The local share market is higher at midday, lifted by gains in global miners like BHP and Rio Tinto following a rally in commodity prices, copper reaching its highest point in over a year. Trading remained light however due to a holiday shortened week.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 12 points higher at 4,910 and on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 2.
In company news: National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) has placed its shares in a trading halt ahead of an announcement regarding its proposed acquisition of the Australian and New Zealand businesses of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (ASX:AXA). AXA Asia Pacific’s shares have also been placed in a halt. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is to announce its decision regarding competition issues relating to the bid on Thursday. NAB has requested that the halt remain in place until the start of trade on Wednesday or an earlier time agreed to by the ASX. NAB shares last traded at $27.70.
Private hospital owner Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX:RHC) says it has finalised its acquisition of a 57% interest in French private hospital owner Groupe Proclif SAS after meeting the requisite regulatory approvals. On January 11, 2010 the company announced that it had agreed to purchase the majority stake in Proclif for 87 million Euros, marking the company’s first acquisition in Continental Europe. Ramsay also reaffirmed its guidance for net profit after tax growth of 18 to 20% for the 2010 financial year. Ramsay Health Care shares fell 0.36% to $13.93.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Materials index, up 120 points at 12,885. Shares in Aditya Birla rose 8.63% to $1.07. Shares in Mirabela Nickel and Mincor Resources are also higher at noon.
The worst performing sector is the Consumer Discretionary index, down 5 points to 1,659. Shares in Fairfax Media dropped 1.38% to $1.785, while shares in News Corp and APN News & Media are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 9 points higher. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: heading the list is Telecom of New Zealand with stock up 1.88% at $2.17 followed by; Infratil, Fletcher Building and Goodman Property Trust.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,108.90 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 91.72 US cents.