Aussie shares are .8 per cent higher at midday, extending yesterday’s leads: Wall St’s positive close lifting investor sentiment and the consumer discretionary sector leading the gains.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 34 points at 4,530 and on the futures market, the SPI200 is up 28.
In local economic news: The ABS has revealed that the Australian balance of goods and services in July was a surplus of $1.888 billion, from a downwardly revised surplus of $3.438 billion the month before. In July, exports decreased four per cent, while imports increased 2 per cent.
To company news: Rio Tinto Ltd’s (ASX:RIO) US$1.5 billion Brockman 4 iron ore mine in Western Australia has been officially opened, says the Australian Associated Press. The project is part of Rio’s Pilbara expansion, which AAP reports will have an initial production rate of 22 million tonnes of iron ore per annum. Adding, the expansion of the Brockman 4 mine is part of Rio’s plan to increase production in the Pilbara to 330 million tonnes a year by 2015. Shares in Rio Tinto are 1.56% up at $73.37.
Brambles Ltd (ASX:BXB) has announced that it has created a US advisory board to strengthen stakeholder relationships as the company expands into the country. The board’s main function will be to manage customer relations, identify and develop new opportunities and engage in US government policy. Mr Rodney Slater has been appointed to the board, who previously served as Secretary of Transportation under former President Bill Clinton. Shares in Brambles are 0.17% down at $5.91.
Turning now to market indices: All sectors are in the black at midday, the sector with the biggest gain is the Health Care sector, with the index up 16 points to 8,258. Shares in Sirtex Medical Ltd are up 2.45% to just over $5.00. Shares in Cochlear and Blackmores also higher.
The sector with the smallest gain at midday is the Consumer Discretionary sector, with the index up 15 points to 1,526. Shares in Invocare dropped 1.49% to $6.63. Shares in Austar United Communications and Austereo also lower at midday.
To New Zealand now and the NZSX50 is 20 points higher. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Heading the list is Telecom of New Zealand with stock down 1.46% at $2.02, followed by Fletcher Building, Auckland International Airport and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $1246 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 90.74 US cents.
