Following gains on Wall St at the end of last week, the local share market is steady at midday. A rise in U.S. stocks on upbeat earnings results for the quarterly reporting period helping to keep the market afloat.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up just over half a point points at 4,754 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 13 points.
Making headlines at midday: Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) shipped a total of 9.5 million tonnes of ore in the September quarter. This compares to 7.9 million tonnes shipped in the previous quarter. Fortescue says previous guidance for the quarter was exceeded by nine per cent as production increased strongly, pointing to an annualized rate of 38 million tonnes per annum, up from the 35 million tonnes forecast. Shares in Fortescue Metals Group rose 2.92 per cent to $3.88.
Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) has announced an offer to acquire Mirvac Real Estate Investment Trust (ASX:MZR), in a deal valuing the trust at 54 cents a unit. Mirvac is offering 50 cents per trust unit up to 20,000 units, plus one Mirvac security for every three trust units above 20,000. Mirvac currently holds a 24.6 per cent stake in the associated fund. Mirvac Group shares lost 2.11 per cent to $1.625.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Consumer Discretionary index which gained 16 points to 1,621. Shares in Macquarie Media advanced 9.46 per cent to $2.14. Shares in McPherson’s and Austar United are also higher at midday.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Financials Excluding Real Estate Investment Trust index, down 34 points at 5,744. Shares in Macquarie Group lost 2.58 per cent to $55.92. Shares in Henderson Group and the ASX are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 10 points higher. Taking a look at the top five stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: Telecom of New Zealand heads the list, stock steady at $2.57, followed by Fletcher Building, Telstra, Westpac and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $1049.15 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 90.32 US cents.
