MIDDAY REPORT- Commonwealth Securities (CommSec)
(12.00pm AEST)

The Australian sharemarket is pulling back for the second straight day, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 1.4 pct or 65.5 pts to 4581.3. Almost all sectors are currently trading in the red with the miners down in the order of 1.5 pct.

The world's largest resource company, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 1.69 pct or 75 cents to $43.55 while the smaller RIO Tinto (RIO) is 1.83 pct or $1.52 lower to $81.66. Australia's largest producer of gold, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is managing to gain 0.13 pct or 5 cents to $38.85.

The major banks in Australia are taking the lead from both U.S and European banks overnight. National Australia Bank (NAB) is currently the worst, down 2.58 pct or 64 cents to $24.15, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is off 1.86 pct or 40 cents to $21.16, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is 1.68 pct or 85 cents weaker to $49.67 while Westpac (WBC) is 1.62 pct or 36 cents lower to $21.23.

The retailers are not being spared from today's selloff and are down largely in line with the broader market. Department store owner Myer (MYR) is down 1.49 pct or 4 cents to $2.64 while its competitor David Jones (DJS) is 1.49 pct or 6 cents lower to $3.98. Discount retailer, JB Hi-Fi (JBH) is slumping by 3.32 pct or 57 cents to $16.58 while Australia's largest specialty retailer, Harvey Norman (HVN) is 1.21 pct or 3 cents weaker to $2.45.

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 lower, with South Korea's KOSPI index down 1.82 pct or 39.27 pts to 2117.89, Japan's Nikkei 225 index 1.39 pct or 139.72 pts to 9929.81 and China's Shanghai Composite index 0.94 pct or 26.42 pts to 2776.27.

On the economic front today, the latest credit card statistics will be released in addition to the results from the NAB's monthly business survey.

The best performing stock at lunch is WAG Limited (WAG), which is up 50 pct or 0.2 cent to 0.6 cents. WAG is a Western Australian company involved in the renewable energy and clean technology industry. It was first listed in 1949 and has a market capitalisation of $3.6 million.

So far today, 863.5 million shares have been traded worth $2.16 billion. 196 shares are up, 703 are lower and 272 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar has fallen sharply overnight and now buys US105.9 cents. It is the first time in 11 days that the Aussie is buying less than US106 cents.

Steven Daghlian
Commsec Market Analyst