Aussie stocks are higher at midday, shrugging off a weak lead from Wall St overnight, boosted by gains in resource stocks and following an upbeat update from major bank ANZ. The S&P/ASX200 index is 23 points higher at 4,617 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 30 points. In economic news: The RBA reports that Australian private sector credit rose 0.4% in January after a 0.3% rise in December.
In company news: Electrical retailer Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN) has announced a 59.9% rise in profit to $158.86 million for the six months to December 31, 2009. Profit from its underlying business came to $171 million up 38.4% from the $123.52 million recorded for the same period a year ago. Harvey Norman reported revenue for the half of $1.31 billion and declared an interim dividend of 7 cents a share up from 5 cents for the same half last year. Chairman Gerry Harvey says he is pleased with the company’s extremely solid result and says Harvey Norman is determinedly optimistic about the remainder of the 2010 financial year. Shares in Harvey Norman rose 2.92% to $3.88.
Electrical appliance manufacturer Breville Group Ltd (ASX:BRG) says profit for the first half of fiscal 2010 rose 43% to $15.35 million up from $10.77 million in the first half of fiscal 2009. Underlying net profit rose 37% to $19.73 million for the period despite a 3.8% drop in sales to $236.9 million from $246.3 million the year before. Breville reaffirmed its guidance for underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between $46 million and $49 million for the full year. Breville Group shares added 4.58% to $1.60.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Utilities index, up 97 points at 4,302. Shares in AGL Energy rose 3.55% to $14.29. Shares in Spark Infrastructure Group and APA Group are also higher. The worst performing sector at midday is the Telco Services index, down 3 points to 1,030. Shares in Amcom Telecommunications fell 3.39% to $0.285. While shares in iiNet and Telstra are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is flat. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Telecom of New Zealand is head of the list, stock down 0.87% at $2.29 followed by; Goodman Fielder, Contact Energy and Sky Network Television. To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,109.05 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 88.86 US cents.
