The local share market is trading higher at midday after a strong open, led by a surge in Telstra shares after the telco struck a deal with the federal government on the National Broadband Network.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 31 points higher at 4,582 and on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 18.
In economic news: International merchandise imports rose 4% in seasonally adjusted terms to $18.5 billion in May, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Imports of capital goods rose 9%, consumption goods rose 4% and intermediate and other merchandise goods gained 2%.
In company news: Power company SP Ausnet Ltd (ASX:SPN) is facing a fire-related class action lawsuit on allegations that its failure to maintain an old power line sparked a fatal bushfire in 2009. The company, which is 51% owned by Singapore Power, says its electricity distribution operating company, SPI Electricity Pty Ltd, has been named as defendant in current proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The class action claims that SP Ausnet’s failure to maintain the 43-year-old power line caused it to collapse and ignite the firestorm, which tore through much of Victoria in February last year. SP Ausnet says it will vigorously defend the claims and is awaiting the findings of an investigation report due for release next month. Shares in SP Ausnet are down 4.14% at $0.81.
CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) says it is continuing talks with China’s Bright Food Group to sell its sugar business, but has not received a final offer. The company’s announcement follows media speculation that Bright Food has made a $1.6 billion offer for its sugar arm, Sucrogen, which could be formalised before CSR’s board meeting tomorrow. Senior Bright Food executives are believed to have visited Australia recently to meet with CSR management, canegrowers and the Queensland government. Shares in CSR have lost 0.29% to $1.74.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Telco Services index, up 45 points to 1,136. Shares in Telstra are 4.33% higher at $3.37. Shares in Telecom of New Zealand and SingTel are also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Utilities index, down 9 points to 4,237. Shares in SP AusNet are trading lower at noon, price as mentioned before, while shares in Spark Infrastructure Group and Challenger Infrastructure are also trading lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 22 points higher. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: ANZ heads the list stock up 1.05% at $0.29 followed by Telecom of New Zealand, Auckland International Airport and Sky City Entertainment.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,257.90 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 87.74 US cents.
