The Australian sharemarket is improving after a slow start to trade, following a solid employment report this morning. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is currently flat. Almost all sectors are trading slightly lower at lunch however.

The country's largest miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 0.4 pct or 18 cents to $44.27 and RIO Tinto (RIO) is down 0.19 pct or 16 cents to $83.44. Gold producer Newcrest Mining (NCM) is 1 pct or 38 cents higher to $38.53.

Australia's major banks are mixed after 2 hours of trade, with Westpac (WBC) down 0.27 pct or 6 cents to $21.83, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is down 0.41 pct or 9 cents to $21.76, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is up 0.14 pct or 7 cents to $51.54 and National Australia Bank (NAB) is 0.32 pct or 8 cents higher to $25.06.

After a few weak days this week, department store owner Myer (MYR) is finally gaining by 0.78 pct or 2 cents to $2.59 while its competitor David Jones (DJS) is 1.54 pct or 6 cents stronger to $3.96.

The price of crude oil eased by a trivial margin last night to US$96.65 and Australia's second largest oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum (WPL) is down 0.34 pct or 14 cents to $40.78. Santos (STO) is down 0.38 pct or 5 cents to $13.26. WPL was first listed on the ASX back in 1971.

WPL manages the North West Shelf Venture (NWSV), which is the third largest producer of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the world. One of the main benefits of LNG over its gaseous state is both in its storage and transportation. It takes a lot less space to transport LNG which is then regasified once the shipment reaches its destination.

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

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 Asian sharemarkets are mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index down 0.07 pct or 6.72 pts to 10075.76, China's Shanghai Composite index is 0.27 pct or 7.69 pts lower to 2802.78 while shares in South Korea are up 0.43 pct or 9.3 pts to 2180.49.

On the economic front today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its latest employment report which showed that the country's jobless rate has remained at 4.9 pct.

The best performing stock at lunch is Jervois Mining (JRV), which is up 33.33 pct or 0.1 cent to 0.4 cents. JRV is a minerals explorer and developer, was first listed on the ASX back in 1980 and has a market capitalisation of $13.9 million.

So far today, 776 million shares have been traded worth $1.51 billion. 433 shares are up, 382 are lower and 315 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar is significantly stronger following the ABS's jobs report and buys US107.4 cents.

Steven Daghlian
Commsec Market Analyst