Despite expectations for a weak start this morning following falls on Wall St overnight, the local share market is stronger at midday with all sectors in positive territory. Resource stocks are leading the gains on the back of a rise in commodities.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 41 points higher at 4,367 and on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 35.
In economic news: The National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey showed its measure of business confidence dropped 8 points to 5 in May. The survey’s overall measure of business conditions eased 2 points in May to 6 points.
And according to the Housing Industry Association’s Building and Population Hotspots for 2009, Victoria has come out on top as the biggest building hotspot. HIA says the nation’s top local building hotspot was Whittlesea North in Victoria where residential building work approved rose to over $484 million and population growth was 18.3%.
In company news: Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) says it is considering the potential listing of its Brazilian and Peruvian assets. Karoon Gas says it believes the value of its South American assets is not properly reflected in the company’s market capitalisation. A separate listing of these assets, it says, is likely to establish a comparable value with other South American oil exploration companies. The company says it believes that companies with South American exploration assets, whose shares are listed on overseas exchanges, achieve far greater value for their assets than that achieved by Karoon in Australia. Shares in Karoon Gas Australia rose 2.49% to $7.40.
Red light and speed photo operator Redflex Holdings Ltd (ASX:RDF) says it believes it will receive a takeover offer in the next few days following discussions with a large Australian financial institution. In response to an ASX price enquiry the company says it became aware of a special crossing in respect of 8 million shares in the company after the close of trade on June 4 at a price of $2.50 a share. Redflex says it held confidential discussions with representatives of the buyer yesterday afternoon. From these discussions it says it believes it will receive on a confidential basis, an indicative and non-binding proposal for the acquisition of control of the company. However, the company says it is not aware of the nature of the terms of the proposal and gives no assurance as to when or indeed whether any such proposal will be received. Shares in Redflex Holdings gained 7.91% to $2.32.
Turning now to market indices: All sectors are in positive territory at midday, however, the sector with the biggest gain is the Materials index, up 128 points to 11,271. Shares in Avoca Resources are 5.88% higher at $2.16. Shares in AngloGold Ashanti and Dominion Mining are also higher.
The worst performer at noon is the Utilities index, up 14 points to 4,096. Shares in Viridis Clean Energy Group lost 4.76% to $0.06, while shares in AGL Energy and Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 43 points lower. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Topping the list is Telco Telecom of New Zealand with stock down 2.15% at $1.82, followed by Fletcher Building, Westpac, and Sky City Entertainment Group.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,238.70 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 81.75 US cents.
