Following positive leads, the Australian share market opened higher and is 0.33 per cent up at noon after Commonwealth Bank helped sentiment along by posting a record half year profit of $4.27 billion. The result came on the back of revenue growth and a fall in bad debts.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 19.5 points up at 5,274. On the futures market the SPI is 20 points higher.
Economic news
The Westpac Melbourne Institute Consumer Confidence Survey has recorded a 3 per cent drop in consumer sentiment in February. The index fell from the January result of 103.3 to 100.2 this month and is down 7.5 per cent from this time last year. The survey also revealed consumers to be pessimistic about economic conditions for the next five years, the factor Westpac economist Bill Evans said contributed most to the surprisingly weak result.
The ABS has advised that short term visitor arrivals for December 2013 were up 7.5 per cent on the same month a year earlier. The Bureau said 789,400 short-term visitor arrived in Australia in December 2013. Meanwhile, short-term resident departures during December of 2013 totalled 747,900, an increase 8.0% higher than in December 2012. Both results are the highest on record.
Company news
Stockland Corporation Limited
(ASX:SGP) has reported a uplift in underlying profit of 4.8 per cent for H1 of Fiscal 2014, moving to $267 million from $255 for the same period last year. Stockland posted a statutory profit of $298.1 million, up $45.2 million on H1 Fiscal 2013. A lift in earnings in both its residential and retirement divisions has driven the result. Shares in Stockland Corporation Limited
(ASX:SGP) are trading up 2.42 per cent at $3.81.
Online auto marketplace Carsales.com Limited
(ASX:CRZ) has also posted strong results with reported revenue increasing 10 per cent for the first half of the 2014 financial year. Profit attributable to members was also up 17% for the same period to nearly $44 million dollars. Organic growth in both online advertising and data and research contributed the result. Shares in Carsales.com Limited
(ASX:CRZ) are trading up 2.67 per cent at $9.63.
The best and worst performers The best performing sector is Materials gaining 110 points to 10,297. Shares in OZ Minerals Limited
(ASX:OZL) have risen 11.18 per cent and trading at $3.78. Shares in Boral Limited
(ASX:BLD) and Arrium Limited
(ASX:ARI) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Health Care, falling 312 points to 14,001. Shares in CSL Limited
(ASX:CSL) have fallen 3.29 per cent, trading at $67.56. Shares in Primary Health Care Limited
(ASX:PRY) and Ramsay Health Care Limited
(ASX:RHC) are also lower.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,288 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.9022.
