Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)
People walk past the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) building in central Sydney October 20, 2008. Reuters/Daniel Munoz
  • Australian shares have reached their best levels in more than a month despite a softer start. The ASX 200 index is up 0.7 per cent, is trading above 5700pts for the third time in 1.5 months and has recouped all of Monday’s losses.
  • Last night US markets eased 0.5 per cent while European markets finished mixed. The Greek sharemarket resumed trade for the first time in five weeks and fell by 16 per cent in the process.
  • Biotechnology firm CSL is up 1.9 per cent and has broken above $100/share this morning. This makes CSL the only company trading above $100 on the ASX.
  • Suncorp (SUN) is up 2.1 per cent after posting a 55.2 per cent rise in annual profit to $1.1bn. The QLD based financial services business made $354m from its banking arm and a more substantial $756m from its general insurance operations. Insurance earnings were down 25 per cent due to the impact of natural disasters.
  • Mining and energy stocks are among the only sectors in the red at lunch. Australia’s largest listed miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 0.9 per cent while the smaller Rio Tinto (RIO) is a touch softer. The price of oil slumped by 4.1 per cent overnight to US$45/barrel.
  • Retail stocks are standouts at lunch with Harvey Norman (HVN) up 8 per cent. The specialty retailer received a broker upgrade today. Myer (MYR) is up 4 per cent. The results of a weekly consumer confidence survey highlighted another rise in sentiment. Interest rates are likely to stay steady at 2.30pm AEST.
  • 990.5m shares have been traded, worth $2.4bn. 432 stocks are up, 374 are down and 298 are unchanged.

Steven Daghlian - Market Analyst (Author)

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