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Aussie stocks are higher at midday thanks to a positive lead from Wall St overnight and gains in the miners like top mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Analysts are saying there is potential for the benchmark index to touch above the 5,000 level again during today’s session.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 29 points higher at 4,980, and on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 32.
In economic news: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment fell 1% in April to a read of 116.1. The pressure on households from two straight interest rate rises a key factor behind the drop.
In company news: Toll road operator Transurban Group Ltd (ASX:TCL) says revenue and traffic rose for its Australian toll roads during the March quarter of 2010. The company says toll revenue from its continuing assets increased 9.4%, excluding the impact of the CityLink revenue protection provision in the prior corresponding period. Including the M4, proportional toll revenue rose 5.2% to $196.3 million, despite the M4 concession ending on February 15, 2010. Transurban Group shares rose 0.39% to $5.14.
Zinc, lead and silver producer CBH Resources Ltd (ASX:CBH) major shareholder, Japan’s Toho Zinc, has rejected Russian based Nyrstar’s sweetened takeover offer for CBH. In a letter released to the ASX today, the Japanese company says Nyrstar’s revised offer of 19.5 cents per CBH share and $1000 cash per CBH convertible note, undervalues the mineral resource company. Toho itself has a bid on the table, offering to acquire all the shares in CBH it does not already own for 25 cents a share. Despite its rejection, Toho says it remains a committed CBH shareholder. CBH Resources shares are steady at $0.19.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Health Care index, up 90 points to 9,106. Shares in CSL added 1.63% to $36.72. Shares in Pharmaxis and Ansell are also higher at noon.
The worst performing sector is the Telco Services index, down 6 points to 1,080. Shares in Telstra fell 0.63% to $3.17. While shares in Telecom of New Zealand and iiNet are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 13 points stronger. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Telecom of New Zealand heads the list with stock up 1.36% at $2.23 followed by; Kathmandu Holdings, Contact Energy and ANZ.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,154.20 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 93.17 US cents.