Despite losses on Wall St overnight, Aussie stocks are trading higher at midday with mining stocks leading the gains and two high profile takeover approaches are also helping to lift the market. Newcrest Mining has placed a bid on the table for fellow gold miner Lihir Gold, and China’s Bright Food Group has sweetened its offer for CSR’s sugar spin-off Sucragen.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 21 points higher at 4,897 and on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 35.
In economic news: The TD Securities/Melbourne Institute monthly inflation gauge rose 0.5% in March indicating a build-up of inflationary pressures. The rise follows a 0.1% rise in February and 0.8% jump in January. It is unsure if this will prompt another rate rise by the RBA in April.
The Australian Industry Group-PricewaterhouseCoopers performance of manufacturing index dropped 3.6 index points to a read of 50.2 in March. Despite the drop the index remains above the 50 mark separating expansion from contraction.
According to the ABS, Australia’s trade deficit in February stood at $1.924 billion a wider deficit than in January. And job vacancies rose 12.1% in the February quarter.
In company news: Brewer and winemaker Foster’s Group Ltd (ASX:FGL) has appointed former Victorian Police commissioner Christine Nixon as a non-executive director of the board. Ms Nixon was chief commissioner of the Victorian Police force for eight years before retiring in February 2009. She was a strong supporter of the Federal Governments 2008 tax increase on pre-mixed drinks, also believing the money should go towards education regarding the damaging consequences of alcohol. Chairman David Crawford says Christine’s leadership, management experience and her strong community focus will be an asset at the Foster’s board table. Shares in Foster’s Group rose 0.57% to $5.32.
According to a Fairfax report, a number of Commonwealth Bank Ltd (ASX:CBA) customers are believed to have begun legal action against the bank’s financial planning business, seeking $4.3 million they claim they have lost due to bad advice. The report says lawyers at Maurice Blackburn lodged a claim with the NSW Supreme Court yesterday alleging that an employee of Commonwealth Financial Planning had been negligent in the advice given to clients. A spokesperson for the bank says it has not yet seen the claim but will vigorously defend any action brought against the company. Shares in the Commonwealth Bank gained 0.34% to $56.48.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Materials index, up 211 points at 13,017. Shares in Lihir Gold skyrocketed 30.03% to $3.94. Shares in Resolute Mining and Andean Resources are also higher at noon.
The worst performing sector is the Health Care index, down 45 points to 8,993. Shares in Ansell dropped 1.32% to $11.98, while shares in ResMed and Acrux are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 3 points lower. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: At the top is Telecom of New Zealand, stock down 0.46% at $2.16 followed by; Westpac, Sky City Entertainment Group and Auckland Airport.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,115.10 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 91.78 US cents.
