Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 11/6/13

MID-SESSION REPORT
(12.45pm AEDT)

Australian shares are lower for the fourth time in five trading sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down by 0.3 per cent. Despite low volumes yesterday (generally around 30% quieter than usual on Melbourne Cup day), local stocks rose by 0.75 per cent, which is still keeping the market positive this week.

A smaller than expected $284 million trade deficit was recorded this morning for the month of September. While the broader market didn't react, the Australian dollar spiked higher, hitting US95.13 cents. The Reserve Bank's 'jawboning' yesterday (RBA tried talking down the Australian dollar, saying that the is 'uncomfortably high') pushed our currency to as low as US94.6c but it has gained momentum in overnight trade due to stronger economic news.

Australia's biggest miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) cracked through $38 per share earlier in the day for the first time since February. BHP is still up 0.1 per cent; however has backed away (again) from $38 and now sits at $37.89.

Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is the only major bank to be recording some gains at lunch, following its Q1 update. CBA shares are up 1.5 per cent. The other three major banks are down by as much as 0.9 per cent.

Engineering firm, Downer EDI (DOW) is 0.76 per cent lower and said it expects its 2014 financial year to be challenging. It's forecasting a flat profit result for the year; however is still up by 30 per cent since January.

Looking ahead Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be the key sessions for Australian equities due to a barrage of economic releases. Tomorrow, the latest monthly jobs report will be issued in Australia together with quarterly growth numbers in the US. Chinese trade figures are out on Friday together with US non-farm payrolls (most important monthly report on jobs health). Saturday will be one of the busiest sessions of the month in China.

969.7 million shares have changed hands at lunch, worth $1.87 billion. 316 stocks are higher, 455 are in the red and 315 are flat.

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