Aussie shares are higher at midday with better than expected earnings results on Wall St giving financial stocks a boost, and gains in Wesfarmers on its positive result is also helping to support the market.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 49 points higher at 4,862 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 51 points.
Making headlines at midday: Oil giant Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) has reported a 6 per cent increase in production for the third quarter. The company produced 20.6 million barrels of oil equivalent in the three months to September 30, up from 19.4 million barrels of oil equivalent in the June quarter. Revenue rose 13 per cent to $1.064 billion for the quarter with sales up 5 per cent to 20.3 million barrels of oil equivalent. Woodside says it has been informed by US-based Apache Corp that Apache and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company are discontinuing talks on processing gas from their WA 356-P permit through Woodside’s Pluto LNG Project. Woodside remains in discussions with several third party gas owners in the Carnarvon basin over the potential processing of their gas through Pluto. Shares in Woodside Petroleum fell 1.31 per cent to $52.05.
Brewer Foster’s Group Ltd (ASX:FGL) has announced plans to transfer 13 Australian wine brands including Queen Adelaide, Great Western, and Yarra Ridge to a joint venture with Vok Beverages. Foster’s says this substantially completes the rationalization of the Australian wine tail brands announced as part of the Wine Strategic Review outcomes achieved in February. Foster’s says it does not expect the formation of this joint venture to have a material impact on its earnings. Foster’s Group shares added 0.36 per cent to $5.55.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Consumer Staples index which gained 178 points to 7,687. Shares in Coca Cola Amatil advanced 1.12% to $10.79. Shares in AWB and Woolworths are also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Telco Services index, down 2 points at 1,103. Shares in Pipe Networks lost 2.95% to $5.60. Shares in Reverse Corp and Singapore Telecommunications were also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is up 9 points. Taking a look at the top five stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: Heading the list is Telstra with shares down 0.51 per cent at $3.90, followed by Telecom of New Zealand, Fletcher Building, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Sky City.
And finally: Gold is trading at US$1,061.35 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 92.72 US cents.
