MIDDAY REPORT
(12pm AEST)

It has been a volatile session of trade so far today, with the Australian sharemarket losing ground after posting gains for the first two hours of trade. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is down 0.4 pct or 17.4 pts to 4050.5. Almost all sectors are lower with weakness from the financials and miners holding the market back.

The S&P/ASX 200 Materials index is down 0.33 pct or 36.3 pts to 10808.6, with BHP Billiton (BHP) down 0.4 pct or 14 cents to $34.90 while the smaller RIO Tinto (RIO) is down 1.84 pct or $1.15 to $61.30.

The S&P/ASX 200 Financials index is down 0.78 pct or 29.4 pts to 3758.2, with Westpac (WBC) down 1.95 pct or 40 cents to $20.15, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is down 1.38 pct or 27 cents to $19.31, Commonwealth Bank of Australia is 0.97 pct or 44 cents lower to $45.07 and National Australia Bank (NAB) is around 0.84 pct or 19 cents lower to $22.31.

Shares in Australia's largest airline, Qantas (QAN) are down 1.41 pct or 2 cents to $1.40. Around 3800 baggage handlers and ground staff walked off the job for an hour over pay disputes today, which affected around 10 pct of passengers. Its competitor, Virgin Australia (VBA) is flat.

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 major Asian markets are mixed at lunch, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 0.29 pct or 25.56 pts to 8726.7, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is down 0.94 pct or 170.02 pts to 17841.04, while shares in China's Shanghai Composite index is up 0.15 pct or 3.66 pts to 2369.

Australia's final 2010/2011 budget numbers were announced by Treasurer Wayne Swan today, who announced a better than expected budget deficit of $47.7 billion. Several factors have hurt the economy including a higher Australian dollar, natural disasters and financial problems across the globe. Treasury was previously forecasting a deficit of $49.4 billion.

So far today, 1.01 billion shares have been traded worth $4.47 billion. 407 shares are up 343 are lower and 309 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) buys US97.5 cents.

.