Following a negative lead from Wall St overnight, Aussie shares are lower at midday with the major banks like NAB and the Commonwealth Bank and top miners like BHP and Rio Tinto leading the declines.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down 90 points at 4,611 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s down 101 points.
In economic news: The TD Securities - Melbourne Institute’s inflation gauge was unchanged in September for the second straight month.
The annual pace of inflation slowed to 1.3 per cent from 1.7 per cent in August, and remains below the RBA’s long term target of 2 - 3 per cent.
Making headlines at midday: Manufacturer and distributor of consumer-branded food Goodman Fielder Ltd (ASX:GFF) has raised $500 million from the syndication of its multi-currency, revolving loan facility. The company says the facility was oversubscribed and effectively extends the maturity of its existing $700 million syndicated loan facility, originally due to mature in November 2010. Goodman Fielder says the new facility consists of a $420 million tranche starting in November 2010 and an $80 million tranche commencing immediately with both maturing in October 2012. Goodman Fielder shares lost 1.49 per cent to $1.65.
U.S. based wine company Constellation Brands Inc (ASX:CBR) has reported a 21 per cent rise in net income to US$120 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, compared to last year. Constellation owns Australia's second-largest wine business Hardy Wine Company. The company also reaffirmed its full year earnings outlook for earnings per share of between US97 cents to US$1.07, up from a loss of US$1.40 the year before. Constellation Brands shares fell 7.41 per cent to $1.50.
Turning now to market indices: All sectors are in the red at midday however the sector with the smallest loss is the Utilities index which lost 36 points to 4138. Shares in Eneabba Gas advanced 1.64 per cent to $0.31. Shares in Challenger Infrastructure Fund are higher while shares in Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund are lower at noon.
The sector with the biggest loss at midday is the Materials index, down 285 points at 10,872. Shares in Equinox Minerals lost 6.03 per cent to $3.43. Shares in Astron and Andean Resources are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 26 points weaker. Taking a look at the top five stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: Fletcher Building is at the top, its stock is down 1.17 per cent at $8.42, next is Telecom of New Zealand, Westpac, Sky City and Auckland Airport.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $1000.65 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 86.91 US cents.
