MIDDAY REPORT
(12.30pm AEST)

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the second straight day, with the All Ordinaries index up 2.9 pct or 117.1 pts to 4213.8. Almost all sectors are higher with the exception of the property trusts, which are slightly lower at lunch.

The four major banks are all gaining strongly, with the most substantial improvement coming from National Australia Bank (NAB), which is up 5.86 pct or $1.26 to $22.76. ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 5.1 pct or 98 cents higher to $19.99, Westpac (WBC) is 4.67 pct or 90 cents stronger to $20.17 and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is up 1.82 pct or 86 cents to $48.14 after releasing a solid profit result today.

The mining and energy sectors are leading the market higher after a few hours of trade however. RIO Tinto (RIO) is up 4.24 pct or $2.96 to $72.70 while the larger BHP Billiton (BHP) is 3.54 pct or $1.30 higher to $38.35. The price of gold remains around all-time highs at US$1754 an ounce which is helping our gold producers rise. Newcrest Mining (NCM) is up 0.96 pct or 37 cents to $39.09.

Energy stocks are the standouts, with the S&P/ASX 200 Energy index up 3.93 pct or 508.7 pts to 13465. Woodside Petroleum (WPL) is up 3.73 pct or $1.30 to $36.11 while the smaller Santos (STO) is up by a more substantial 4.45 pct or 51 cents to $11.96. STO has interests in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and North Africa. The company was first listed on the ASX in 1954 and has a market capitalisation of $10.5 billion.

Following the end of daylight savings in April this year, major Asian markets will be trading between the hours mentioned below until mid October.

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The Hong Kong sharemarket trades in two sessions each day and will now be opening for trade between 11.30am (AEST) and 2pm (AEST) and then between 3.30pm (AEST) and 6pm (AEST) in its second session.

Out of Japan, the first session will be between 10am (AEST) and 12pm (AEST), while the second session is between 1.30pm (AEST) and 4pm (AEST).

The Singapore exchange will be open for trade between 11am (AEST) and 2.30pm (AEST) for the first session and then between 4pm (AEST) and 7pm (AEST) in its second session.

The major Asian markets are gaining for the first time in seven sessions, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 3.36 pct or 649.08 pts to 19979.78, South Korea's KOSPI index up 1.23 pct or 22.13 pts to 1823.48, Japan's Nikkei 225 index is 1.15 pct or 102.57 pts higher to 9047.05 and China's Shanghai Composite index is 1.45 pct or 36.67 pts stronger to 2562.74.

On the economic front today, consumer sentiment in Australia has fallen by 3.5 pct in August. This makes it the fourth consecutive month that confidence levels have fallen.

One of the best performing stocks today is Linc Energy (LNC), which is up 12.91 pct or 25.5 cents to $2.23. LNC is an energy company mainly focused on the development of clean coal technology. The company was first listed in 2006 and has a market capitalisation (number of shares on issue multiplied by its current share price) of $1.15 billion.

So far today, 1.6 billion shares have been traded worth $3.97 billion. 1,015 shares are up, 120 are lower and 194 are currently unchanged. The value of shares traded at lunch today is significantly higher than the usual average.

The Australian dollar has gained strongly after briefly falling below parity for the first time since March against the U.S dollar yesterday. Our currency buys US103.3 cents.

( From Steven Daghlian, Commsec Market Analyst)