Aussie stocks are lower at midday dragged down by falls in mining stocks like giants BHP and Rio Tinto after weak US consumer confidence data added to growing concern for the economic recovery and dented commodity prices.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down 61 points at 4,658 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 73 points.
In economic news: According to data released by the ABS, Australia’s wage price index rose 0.6% in the fourth quarter, and construction work done in the fourth quarter rose 2.6%.
In company news: Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) reported a 2.1% rise in profit to $1.824 billion for 2009, compared to $1.786 billion in 2008. Underlying net profit excluding one-off items, rose 4% to $1.906 billion compared to $1.832 billion in 2008. 2009 sales revenue of $4.352 billion was lower than the year before despite record sales volumes of 80.7 million barrels of oil equivalent. Production for the year dropped 0.5% to 80.9 million barrels of oil equivalent with the company forecasting output of 70 to 75 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2010. Woodside declared a final dividend of 55 cents a share. Shares in Woodside Petroleum fell 1.26% to $43.85.
Budget airline Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:VBA) has returned to profitability posting earnings of $62.5 million for the six months to December 31, 2009 compared to a loss of $101.4 million for the same period the year before. Revenue rose 12.2% to $1.516 billion up from $1.351 billion in the first half of fiscal 2009. Virgin Blue confirmed its forecast for profit before tax of between $80 and $110 million for fiscal 2010. Despite the pleasing result CEO Brett Godfrey cautioned that the operating environment is still uncertain and the concerns remain around the pace of the global economic recovery and the continuing uncertainty in domestic and international markets. Virgin Blue Holdings shares added 1.61% to $0.63.
Turning now to market indices: Majority of sectors are in the red at midday, however the sector with the smallest loss is the Utilities index, down 22 points at 4,206. Shares in APA Group rose 2.45% to $3.35. Shares in Challenger Infrastructure Group and Duet Group are also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Industrials index, down 20 points to 3,920. Shares in Ausenco fell 6.47% to $4.05. While shares in Downer EDI and Hastie Group are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 11 points lower. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Topping the list is Telecom of New Zealand with stock down 1.74% at $2.26 followed by; Telstra, Downer EDI and Kiwi Income Property Trust.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,104.65 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 89.19 US cents.
