Aussie stocks are higher at midday, following a positive lead from Wall St after upbeat data gave investors optimism for the health of the US economy.
Locally gains are being led by financial stocks and the miners with a rise in the price of gold helping to lift gold miners like Newcrest Mining.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 22 points higher at 4,629 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 17 points.
In company news: Duet Group (ASX:DUE) says it will invest US$104.8 million in DQE Holdings LLC as part of a US$271.1 million equity investment by the ownership consortium in DQE Holdings. Duet says the equity investment will be used to mitigate the current impact of a pension plan deficit of US$218 million, of which its share would be US$63.1 million. Duet says any funds left over will be used to provide further equity funding for transmission growth capital expenditures. Duet Group shares fell 0.55 per cent to $1.805.
Iron ore miner Atlas Iron Ltd (ASX:AGO) says it has shipped over 1 million tonnes of iron ore in its maiden year of operations at its Pardoo Direct Shipping Ore Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara. The miner shipped 1.02 million tonnes of iron ore in calendar 2009 from Pardoo, and 1.08 million since it started shipments in December 2008. Managing Director David Flanagan says this is a fantastic achievement for the company, particularly because the miner began mining in the middle of the global financial crisis in late 2008. Atlas Iron shares rose 3.69 per cent to $1.825.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Consumer Discretionary index up 19 points at 1,582. Shares in Harvey Norman advanced 2.96% to $4.18. Shares in Aristocrat Leisure and News Corp are also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Energy index, down 31 points to 15,209. Shares in Paladin Energy fell 3.52% to $3.84. Shares in Mantra Resources and Whitehaven Coal are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 4 points lower. Taking a look now at the top 5 stocks by turnover: Telecom of New Zealand tops the list, stock down 1.24% at $2.38. Following the Telco is Auckland Airport, Westpac, Fletcher Building and PGG Wrightson Limited Rights.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,135.35 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 91.55 US cents.
