Following mixed offshore leads, the local share market is trading slightly lower at midday as Europe’s debt woes continue to linger with investors nervous after a ratings downgrade to Greece’s debt.
Europe’s troubles have heightened concern for the global economy’s prospects and have caused the RBA to slow down its aggressive interest rate hikes, with the minutes of its June 1 monetary policy meeting, indicating the central bank’s intention to leave rates on hold for now.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 12 points lower at 4,494 and on the futures market, the SPI200’s down 30.
In company news: ANZ Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) has completed the acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail, commercial and private banking businesses in Indonesia. The bank says this transaction completes the final stage of the acquisition of selected RBS businesses in six Asian countries, accelerating the bank’s super regional strategy. CEO of Asia Pacific, Europe and America Alex Thursby says across the six markets, ANZ has added 49 branches, 1.6 million customers and US$6.5 billion in customer demand deposits as a result of the acquisition. Shares in ANZ rose 0.09% to $23.06.
Oil and gas explorer Bow Energy Ltd (ASX:BOW) has appointed Peter Harbison as chief financial officer. Mr Harbison has previously held senior financial management positions with Arrow Energy and Macquarie Group. CEO John De Stefani says Mr Harbison’s vast financial experience, particularly through the upstream and downstream value chains of coal seam gas, will add significant strength to Bow’s capabilities. Shares in Bow Energy gained 0.41% to $1.215.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Utilities index, up 22 points to 4,219. Shares in Duet Group are 0.88% higher at $1.72. Shares in AGL Energy and APA Group are also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Consumer Discretionary index, down 16 points to 1,512. Shares in News Corp lost 3.06% to $17.77, while shares in APN News & Media and Ten Network Holdings are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 5 points stronger. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Telecom of New Zealand heads the list with stock up 1.06% at $1.90, followed by; Guinness Peat Group, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Auckland International Airport.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,221.45 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 85.54 US cents.
