Despite a mostly positive lead from Wall St overnight, the local share market briefly slipped into the red this morning and is trading flat at midday. Investor sentiment continues to be weighed down by the proposed mining tax and Europe’s debt woes.
The S&P/ASX200 index is steady at 4,382 and on the futures market, the SPI200’s down 9.
In economic news: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute survey of consumer sentiment index fell 5.7% in June to a read of 101.9. This is the third straight month the index has fallen, however a read above 100 indicates that there were more optimists than pessimists in the survey.
And the ABS reports a 1.8% fall in housing finance commitments in April.
In company news: Online travel booking company Wotif.com Holdings Ltd (ASX:WTF) says it expects to report net profit after tax of between $52 and $56 million for fiscal 2010. This represents up to a 29% increase compared to its profit for the 2009 financial year of $43.5 million. Wotif says that occupancy levels in Australia remain strong with the outlook for room rates strengthening. However, the company says the outlook for its business in Thailand continues to remain challenging. Shares in Wotif.com Holdings rose 1.63% to $4.98.
Red light and speed photo operator Redflex Holdings Ltd (ASX:RDF) has confirmed takeover speculation, saying it has received an offer from a subsidiary of Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG). The company says it received an indicative, non-binding and confidential offer after the close of market yesterday, to acquire all of the issued capital of Redflex by scheme of arrangement from a subsidiary of Macquarie Group at a price of $2.50 a share. Redflex says it has not formed a view on the proposal yet and recommends shareholders take no action at this time. Shares in Redflex Holdings gained 2.17% to $2.35.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Health Care index, up 140 points to 8,445. Shares in Primary Health Care are 3.2% higher at $3.87. Shares in CSL and Biota Holdings are also higher.
The worst performer at noon is the Industrials index, down 34 points to 3,321. Shares in Mermaid Marine Australia lost 4.6% to $2.28, while shares in CSR and Brambles are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 18 points higher. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Heading the list is Telecom of New Zealand, stock down 0.55% at $1.80. Following the telco is Guinness Peat Group, ANZ, and AMP.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,237.20 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 82.43 US cents.
