Australian Stock Market Report – Midday December 29, 2014

IN PHOTO: Office workers are reflected as they walk past the Australian Securities Exchange building in central Sydney April 8, 2011. Singapore Exchange Ltd has terminated its $8 billion bid for Australia's ASX Ltd after the Australian government formally rejected the offer on national interest grounds and said changes to the country's financial systems were needed before the bourse could be bought by foreigners. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

 Australian shares are kicking off the holiday shortened trading week firmer, with the ASX 200 Index up 0.8 per cent. This is the first session of trade since last Wednesday and historically the next few weeks are usually quiet for local stocks.

 US shares reached fresh record highs on Friday, aided by signs of continued improvements in unemployment. Since the start of this calendar year the Dow Jones Industrial Index is up 8.9 per cent (an outcome 11 times better than Australia's ASX 200). The tech focused Nasdaq closed above 4800pts for the first time in 14 years.

 Mining stocks are doing best at lunch despite no change in iron ore and base metal prices on Friday. Gold shot higher by 1.9 per cent which has been attributed to short covering. Newcrest Mining (NCM) is up 4.1 per cent while smaller gold miners like Northern Star (NST) and Regis (RRL) are improving by more than 7 per cent.

 Energy shares are up by 0.4 per cent despite a further 2 per cent slump in the oil price on Friday.

 Sydney Airport (SYD) is down by 2 per cent or 9.5c as it trades ex-dividend today. SYD will be paying out a 12c per share final dividend to eligible shareholders on 12 February.

 Telstra (TLS) is up 1.3 per cent and is only 6c away from revisiting the 13.5 year highs hit last Tuesday.

 Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is up 0.7 per cent and is around 0.5 per cent below the record highs it hit early last week.

 Property trusts are the only losers; however have outperformed the broader market in December (gains in excess of 6 per cent this month compared to 2.3 per cent for the ASX 200).

 Volume remains light with just 368.9m shares traded worth $753.7m. 435 stocks are up, 261 are down and 257 are unchanged.

 No major economic news is scheduled for release in Australia, the region, Europe or the US tonight.

 The Australian dollar remains near 4.5 year lows against the greenback and buys US$0.811.

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