The Australian share market is trading higher at midday, after being led by the major miners. Shares in BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Woodside are all stronger after being lifted by higher commodity prices during the weekend offshore session. Shares in Santos also rallied after the company completed a number of Gladstone LNG deals.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 10 points to 4,773. On the futures market the SPI is up 14 points.
Company news: Centro Properties Group (ASX:CNP) has received $13.5 billion worth of indicative bids for its shopping malls. Some of the interested buyers for some or all of Centro’s assets up for sale include Westfield, Lend Lease’s Australian Prime Property Fund, CFS Retail Trust and Singapore Government Investment Corp amongst others. Centro manages an $18.6 billion portfolio of shopping malls across Australia, New Zealand and the United States, but has around $18.4 billion of debt. The company needs around $11.5 billion of that debt to be refinanced by the end of December 2011. Shares in Centro Properties are up 6.9 per cent to $0.155
Ramsay Healthcare Ltd (ASX:RHC) has upgraded its full-year profit forecast today, flagging a rise of up to 28 per cent in first-half earnings. The higher first-half results means the company would produce a gain of between 22 per cent and 24 per cent in its full-year net profit. Ramsay says stronger performances in its Australia and UK operations, coupled with lower interest costs, would see net profit rise sharply. Shares in Ramsay Healthcare are up 4.09 per cent to $17.32.
Market indices: The best performing sector is Energy with the index lifting 187 points to 16,393. Shares in Santos have gained 5.55 per cent to $13.69. Shares in Palladin Energy and AWE Limited have also risen at noon. The worst performing sector at midday is Financials excluding Real Estate Investment Trust, dropping 13 points to 5,123. Shares in Perpetual lost 13.86 per cent to $31.88 after the company announced it had terminated talks with private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Shares in Lend Lease and Westpac have also eased at midday.
New Zealand: The NZSX50 is up 31 points. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover, Telecom Corporation of New Zealand is at the top of the list with stock 2.76 cent higher at $2.23; followed by ANZ Bank, Sky City Entertainment and Westpac.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $US1,383 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is buying 98.77 US cents.
