The Australian share market is stronger at midday following positive leads from US and European markets overnight, the miners lifting on higher commodity prices and banks gaining on some upbeat earnings results.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 84 points at 4,652 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 91 points.
In economic news: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute leading index of economic activity rose 6.2% in December from 5.4% in November. Indicating strong growth in the Australian economy.
And the Employment Department’s index of skilled job vacancies rose 5.2% to a read of 44.4 in February.
In company news: Soft-drink maker Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX:CCL) has posted a 16.4% rise in profit for 2009 and says it expects to deliver high single-digit earnings growth for the first half of 2010. Net profit after tax for the 12 months to December 31, 2009 rose to $449 million on the back of a 7% increase in revenue to $4.56 billion. The company declared a final dividend of 25 cents a share, up from 22 cents the year before. Coca-Coal Amatil shares fell 2.21% to $10.60.
Toll road operator Transurban Group (ASX:TCL) has reported a profit of $50.4 million for the first half of fiscal 2010, up from $1.9 million recorded for the same period the year before. Total revenue rose 2.8% to $591.4 million on the back of a 6.9% rise in toll revenue to $396.7 million. The company says it has not received any further takeover approaches from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan since rejecting an offer in November. CEO Chris Lynch says the company has a clear pipeline of opportunities, with major upgrades to its assets promising to deliver future growth. Transurban declared an interim dividend of 12 cents a share. Transurban Group shares dropped 1.19% to $5.
Turning now to market indices: All sectors are in positive territory however the sector with the biggest gain at midday is the Materials index, up 265 points at 12,187. Shares in Aditya Birla rose 7.92% to $1.09. Shares in Wattyl and Perseus Mining are also higher.
The sector with the smallest gain at midday is the Real Estate Investment Trust index, up 4 points to 855. Shares in Charter Hall Group fell 2.19% to $0.67. While shares in Astro Japan Property Trust and Westfield Group are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 18 points higher. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Telstra tops the list with stock up 1.01% at $3.99 followed by Fletcher Building, Westpac and Goodman Fielder.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,117.45 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 90.16 US cents.
