The Australian share market continued to climb at midday, fuelled by a rally in resource stocks and upbeat investor sentiment after the US Federal Reserve decided to put interest rates on hold.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 30 points higher at 4,827 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 25 points.
In economic news: New data reveals Australia’s economy is expected to grow rapidly this year, driven in part by strong commodity prices, profits and productivity. The Westpac/Melbourne Institute’s index of economic activity posted an annualised growth rate of 6.3% in January, well above its long term trend of 2.7%. The index predicts the likely pace of activity three to nine months into the future. In company news: Iron ore explorer FerrAus Ltd (ASX:FRS) will spin-off its Lawson Gold project into a new subsidiary company in order to focus on its core operations. The project, located about 45km north east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, comprises four mining licences and an exploration licence. As part of the spin-off, the company will conduct an Initial Public Offering through the issue of new shares. The new subsidiary would be called Lawson Gold Ltd, and FerrAus plans to list it on the ASX. By spinning off the project, the company says it can concentrate on its core Pilbara project in Western Australia, where it hopes to make the jump from explorer to producer. A scoping study has found the project could eventually produce 15 million tonnes a year of iron ore. Shares in FerrAus are 0.48% higher at $1.055.
Building materials group Boral Ltd (ASX:BLD) has appointed former CSR executive Eileen Doyle as a non-executive director. Dr Doyle spent five years in senior roles with CSR and 13 years with BHP prior to that. She is also a member of CSIRO’s board and a non-executive director of OneSteel, GPT Group and Ross Human Directions. As previously announced, Ken Moss will step down as chairman in May and will be replaced by deputy chair Bob Every. Shares in Boral are up 1.86% at $5.49.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Energy index, up 175 points at 15,553. Shares in Paladin Energy rose 3.68% to $3.94. Shares in Bow Energy and Oil Search were also higher at noon.
The worst performing sector is the Consumer Staples index, down 35 points to 7,732. Shares in AWB are down 12.32% to $0.925. Shares in Metcash are lower, while Coca Cola Amatil shares are flat at midday.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 2 points lower. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: First in the list is Telecom of New Zealand, stock is down 0.46% at $2.16, followed by Fletcher Building, Telstra and Kiwi Income Property Trust.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,128.15 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 91.83 US cents.
