Aussie shares are up 0.8 per cent at noon, following on from a positive lead from Wall St amid encouraging US economic data. Locally banks are leading the gains.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 36 points at 4,615 and on the futures market, the SPI200 is up 48.
To company news: Airport operator Australian Infrastructure Fund Ltd (ASX:AIX) has reported strong monthly passenger growth for August, with an increase of 7.6 per cent in passengers for the month, compared to the same time last year. Australian airports comprise of over 80 per cent of the infrastructure fund’s portfolio by value, and recorded domestic passenger growth of 8.9 per cent and international passenger growth of 12.6 per cent. Compared with the long-term annual average passenger growth rate of 5.6 per cent per cent between 1986 and 2010, the fund says its latest growth rates for August compare favourably. Shares in Australian Infrastructure Fund are 0.79% down at $1.885.
Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB) says its July to September total transaction value was up to around $149 million, compared to $120 million last year. The online travel marketer says the result represents an increase of 24 per cent, and as average booking values this year are similar to last year, virtually all of the result is in unit numbers and shows Webjet’s increasing market footprint. Managing director David Clarke says the latest quarterly increase compounds the growth achieved in the same quarter last year when Webjet defied the general industry downturn. Shares in Webjet are 2.08% up at $2.45.
Market indices: Most sectors are in the black at noon. The best performing sector is Financials Excluding Real Estate Investment Trusts, with the index up 57 points to 5,117. Shares in AMP are up 2.34% to $5.24. Shares in National Australia Bank and Macquarie Group and are also higher. The worst performing sector at midday is Telco Services, with the index down 2 points to 909. Shares in Amcom Telecommunications have dropped 1.43% to $0.345. Shares in Telstra and iiNet are also lower at noon.
The NZSX50 is up 14 points. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: AMP is at the top of the list with stock up 0.75% at $6.75 followed by; Telecom of New Zealand, Fletcher Building and ANZ.
Gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $1317 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 96.99 US cents.
