After negative offshore leads the Australian share market opened lower, after commodities markets plummeted following an onslaught of sales overnight. The S&P/ASX200 index has eased 6 points and is 4,747 at noon. On the futures market the SPI is 5 points lower. In economic news, the Australian Industry Group-Housing Industry Association's performance of construction index has today reported Australian construction activity fell in April for the 11th consecutive month. The PCI fell 1.5 index points to 37.9 points in April, its lowest level in more than two years. In company news, Mirvac Group (Public, ASX:MGR) has taken on high profile barrister Allan Myers QC to assess whether the value of one of the company's residential developments in Brisbane has fallen, due to the floods. The group is reportedly in a battle with an off-the-plan property purchaser at its Tennyson Reach development. Mirvac says it had previously announced that nine ground floor apartments and landscaped areas were affected during the Brisbane floods. Shares in Mirvac have risen 1.7 per cent at noon and are trading at $1.195. Online jobs search site, Seek, Ltd
(ASX:SEK) says its Asian subsidiary, Seek Asia, has completed its acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in south-east Asian online employment firm, JobsDB. Seek announced the acquisition of the 60 per cent ownership interest in JobsDB, for the value of AU$206 million in December 2010. Shares in Seek have slipped 0.14 per cent and are trading at $6.95. The best performing sector is Health Care, adding 113 points to 8,838. Shares in ResMed have gained 3.04 per cent and trading at $3.05. Shares in Primary Healthcare and CSL are both in positive territory at midday. The worst performing sector is Materials losing 195 points to 13,597 points. Shares in Atlas Iron have fallen 3.44 per cent and trading at $3.37. Shares in PanAust and BHP are also in the red at noon. In New Zealand, the NZSX50 is up by 3 points. The top four stocks by turnover, have Fletcher Building is at the top of the list with stock down 0.55 per cent at $8.96, followed by Telecom Corporation of New Zealand, Sky City Entertainment Group and ANZ. Gold is trading at $US1,489 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is buying $US1.0694.
