The local share market is lower at midday, gains in energy and gold mining companies like Woodside Petroleum and Newcrest Mining on higher oil and gold prices, outweighed by falls in financial stocks.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down 23 points at 4,721 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s down 19 points.
In economic news: The Australian Industry Group/PricewaterhouseCoopers Performance of Manufacturing Index rose 0.3 points to a read of 52 in September following a 7.2 point jump in August.
Making headlines at midday: Analytical testing services, chemicals and cleaning solutions company Campbell Brothers Ltd (ASX:CPB) says it intends to make a takeover offer for asset management services company PearlStreet Ltd (ASX:PST). The company says it proposes to offer PearlStreet shareholders 56 cents a share, representing a 31.8 per cent premium to the closing price yesterday. Campbell Brothers also announced a $196.6 million rights issue at an issue price of $22 a share to provide balance sheet flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities. Shares in Campbell Brothers rose 1.39 per cent to $30.
Service provider to the grains industry GrainCorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) says it has secured three more trains for three years for its contract with Australian Railroad Group, a subsidiary of national transport and logistics company QR. GrainCorp managing director Mark Irwin says the company’s agreement with ARG underpins a significant percentage of the transport requirement for Queensland grain exports and provides certainty for growers at a critical time. General Manager of Storage and Logistics, Bruce Griffin says as a result of the company's contract with ARG, weekly rail capacity between Toowoomba and Brisbane will increase by 50 per cent providing a much needed boost in haulage capacity for the southern Queensland grains industry. GrainCorp shares fell 2.44 per cent to $8.81.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Energy index which is up 113 points to 16,638. Shares in Mantra Resources advanced 4.99 per cent to $4.84. Shares in Linc Energy and WorleyParsons are also higher at noon.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Real Estate Investment Trust index, down 7 points at 951. Shares in Westfield Group lost 2.52 per cent to $13.55. Shares in GPT Group and CFS Retail Property Trust are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is up 23 points. Taking a look at the top five stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: Lion Nathan is top of the list, stock steady at $13.75, followed by Telecom of New Zealand, South Canterbury Finance, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Fletcher Building.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $1007.10 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 88.36 US cents.
