Despite falls on Wall St overnight the Australian share market is trading steady at midday with the top miners such as BHP and Rio helping to support the market.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 6 points higher at 4,576 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 4 points.
In economic news The Australian Industry Group/PricewaterhouseCoopers performance of manufacturing index rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.5 points in December to 51.
In company news: Engineering firm, AJ Lucas Group says it expects to report a disappointing first half result at the end of the month. The company says normalised EBITDA is set to be negative $18 million, though expected to swing to a $30 million dollar EBITDA gain in the second half. AJ Lucas Group shares are down 7.1% at $3.01 cent
And Argo Investments Ltd (ASX:ARG) has reported a 14.7% decline in profit for the December 2009 quarter to $82.7 million. The company says the results were despite the value of stock rising from 2.9 to $3.9 billion by year end. Argo says its operating profit after tax and before net gains was $71.6 million, down from $93.8 million. Shares in Argo Investments rose 0.45% at $6.75.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Materials index up 110 points at 11,728. Shares in Alumina added 3.57% to $1.595. Shares in Lihir Gold and BHP are also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Utilities index, down 57 to 4117. Shares in Energy World Corporation fell 11.48% to 27 cents. While shares in Transfield Services and AGL Energy are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is down 8 points.
Taking a look at the top 5 stocks by turnover: Telecom New Zealand is head of the list stock is steady at $2.38 followed by; Fletcher Building, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Westpac and Kathmandu Holdings.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,085.35 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 88.59 US cents.
