Shrugging off Wall St’s negative lead the local share market recovered from earlier losses and is steady at midday. Volume is thin due to the Labour Day public holiday in NSW, ACT, and South Australia.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 8 points at 4,609 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 9 points.
In economic news: A survey by ANZ showed total job advertisements rose 4.4 per cent in September, after rising 4.1 per cent in August.
Making headlines at midday: Design and construction company Lend Lease Corporation Ltd (ASX:LLC) has been chosen as the preferred builder for a new wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market in Epping, Victoria. According to the Australian Victorian Major Project Minister Tim Pallas says during the construction phase of the project, 600 jobs will be created and $870 million injected into the state’s economy. Work is to commence by the end of the year. Lend Lease Corporation shares dropped 0.78 per cent to $10.16.
Gold explorer and producer Norton Gold Fields Ltd (ASX:NGF) says it has received approaches from a number of parties expressing interest in Norton and its projects. Managing director Jon Parker says the company has had discussions with a range of entities but that these were preliminary in nature and incomplete. Shares in Norton Gold Fields rose 13.04 per cent to $0.26.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Consumer Staples index which gained 57 points to 7,391. Shares in Goodman Fielder advanced 1.83 per cent to $1.665. Shares in Woolworths and Coca-Cola Amatil are also higher at midday.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Financials excluding Real Estate Investment Trust index, down 25 points at 5,487. Shares in Macquarie Group lost 3.76 per cent to $52.74. Shares in Tower Australia and NAB are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 14 points weaker. Taking a look at the top five stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: Lion Nathan heads the list stocks steady at $13.80, followed by Telecom of New Zealand, Fletcher Building, Westpac and Telstra.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $1003.30 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 87.23 US cents.
