The local share market is higher at midday with the miners like top miner BHP leading the gains on strong metals prices. Gold miners like Newcrest Mining continued to rally on the back of record gold prices.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 46 points higher at 4,775 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 43 points.
In economic news: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute leading index of economic activity rose to 5.8% in September from 3.78% in August, indicating that the Australian economy is on the path to a strong recovery.
In company news: Maintenance services provider and project manager Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE) has made two new key appointments to its senior management team. The company has appointed Tiernan O’Rourke as Chief Financial Officer and Matthew Irwin to the new role of Chief Executive of Investments. Mr O’Rourke is former CFO for Australand and has held positions with AGL, Westfield, CSR and Brambles. In the new role of Chief Executive of Investments, Mr Irwin will seek to optimize the competitive position of the company’s portfolio of assets. Both appointments will commence from January 11 2010. Shares in Transfield Services rose 0.24 per cent to $4.21.
Coal miner Macarthur Coal Ltd (ASX:MCC) has forecast profit for the first half of the 2010 financial year to be in the range of $30 million to $38 million. This is significantly lower than the $106.9 million reported in the first half of the 2009 financial year. The company says the downgrade is due to significantly lower Japanese Financial Year US dollar sale prices and higher Australian dollar/US dollar foreign exchange and hedging rate. Macarthur Coal shares lost 4.52 per cent to $9.72.
Turning now to market indices: All sectors are in positive territory at midday, however the sector with the biggest gain is the Materials index, up 185 points to 12,352. Shares in Newcrest Mining advanced 2.5% to $36.12. Shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are also higher.
The sector with the smallest gain at midday is the Industrials index, up 10 points to 3,893. Shares in AJ Lucas Group fell 2.56% to $4.57. Shares in Brambles and Cabcharge Australia are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 5 points lower. Looking at the top 5 stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: Telecom of New Zealand heads the list stock up 0.79% at $2.54, followed by Fletcher Building, Warehouse Group, Westpac and Contact Energy.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,141.40 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 93.02 US cents.
