Shrugging off a negative lead from Wall St overnight, the local share market is steady at midday, buoyed by gains in property trusts on increasing optimism that the worst may over for the property sector.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down almost a point at 4,753 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 6 points.
In economic news: The ABS reports a 0.1 per cent fall in building approvals for August. The Bureau also released figures showing a 0.9 per cent increase in retail sales for the month of August.
And the RBA reports a 0.1 per cent rise in private sector credit in August.
Making headlines at midday: Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group (ASX:BBI) has rejected a refinancing proposal from the Royal Bank of Scotland acting on behalf of an investment group comprising of primarily international hedge funds. Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group says it believes the proposal is inferior to a potential recapitalization transaction that it is working on involving a potential cornerstone investor. The company says it believes the proposal does not fundamentally address its debt position, and says there are considerable execution risks with the equity raising proposed under the proposal. Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group shares are in a trading halt and last traded at 5.3 cents.
Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) has missed a financing deadline in relation to its agreement with China’s Baosteel Group and China Iron & Steel Association. The deadline was today however the company says it intends to continue working co-operatively with Baosteel and China Iron & Steel Association on the plan. According to Reuters Fortescue has agreed to sell 20 million wet tones of iron ore to steel mills in China at a three percent discount to its competitors provided that they organize financing by September 30 to fund a big expansion program in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) shares dropped 3.08 per cent to $3.78.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Consumer Discretionary index which is up 23 points to 1,626. Shares in Photon Group advanced 3.83 per cent to $1.90. Shares in Billabong International and APN News & Media are also higher at noon.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Consumer Staples index, down 37 points at 7,458. Shares in AWB lost 2.33 per cent to $1.26. Shares in Foster’s Group and Coca-Cola Amatil are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is up 6 points. Taking a look at the top five stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: Telecom of New Zealand heads the list stock up 1.14 per cent at $2.66, followed by Fletcher Building, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Ryman Healthcare and Pyne Gould Corp.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $996 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 88.01 US cents.
