The Australian market is lower at midday, down half a percent with weakness in utilities, energy and financials. The S&P/ASX200 index is down 21 points at 4,509 and on the futures market, the SPI200 is down 27.

To company news: Mincor Resources NL (ASX:MCR) has announced a 37% increase in its reserves to 50,200 tonnes of nickel. The nickel producer says the result underpins its plans to lift production by 35% over the next two years. For the year to 30 June 2010, Mincor added a net 16,600 tonnes of nickel. The company says its reserves have increased nearly sevenfold over the past nine years. Shares in Mincor Resources are 5.18% higher at $2.03.

Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) has confirmed its interest in becoming the manager of ING Industrial Fund (ASX:IIF), of which it already owns 4.4%. The industrial property developer says this would be a prudent expansion of its fund management business. Goodman says however, that discussions have not taken place and there is no certainty the transaction will continue. Shares Goodman Group in are down 1.55% at $0.635.

Turning now to market indices: The best performing index is the Materials sector, up 15 points to 12,070. Shares in Sundance Resources are 6.9% higher at $0.155. Shares in BHP Billiton and Incitec Pivot are also higher at noon.

The worst performing index is the Utilities sector, down 50 points to 4,162. Shares in SP AusNet dropped 1.83% to $0.805. Shares in Spark Infrastructure Group and AGL Energy are also lower at noon.

To New Zealand now and the NZSX50 is down almost one point. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Fletcher Building heads the list with stock down 1.43% at $7.57 followed by; Telecom of New Zealand, Telstra and Westpac.

To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,166.05 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 89.35 US cents.