The Australian market followed a strong lead from Wall Street overnight. Bank and resource stocks led gains, with only the information technology sector falling into the red.
At midday, the All Ords rose 43.6 to 4,703.1, while the ASX/200 climbed 47.3 to 4,682.4. About 890 million shares worth around $1.2 billion had changed hands.
The big four banks rebounded, sending the Banks and Financials sector 1.3% higher.
Westpac was the best performer, climbing 52c, or 2.2% to $23.87. ANZ rallied 45c, or 2.1% to $21.40 and NAB gained 29c to $26.29.
Investment bank Macquarie Group added 78c to $45.60 on reports that it is set to acquire a derivatives unit of collapsed Luxembourg-based private bank Sal. Oppenheim.
Insurer QBE jumped 2.6% to $25.21.
A rise in base metals prices saw miners rally across the globe, including locally this morning. The Materials and Resources sector was 1.2% above the line by lunch.
Rio Tinto advanced $1.39, or 2% to $71.96, while BHP Billton added 51c to $41.46.
Tropical cyclone Laurence has forced BHP to suspended iron ore shipments from its Port Hedland facilities.
Gold miners Newcrest and Lihir fell 2% and 1.6% to $34.10 and $3.13 after the price of the precious metal dropped 1.4% to below US$1,100 an ounce in New York overnight.
Mirabela Nickel gained 1.7% to $2.39 after the price of nickel climbed 5% on the London Metals Exchange.
Nufarm was halted at $10.56 as Sinochem revised its takeover offer downwards from $13.00 per share to $12.00 per share. Incitec Pivot climbed 3.6% to $3.48.
Alumina added another 3.8% to yesterday’s strong gains to be trading at $1.78. The company’s joint venture partner, US company Alcoa, signed an agreement with Saudi Arabian company Ma’aden to develop a mining operation.
Sims Metal Management shares jumped 99c, or 4.6% to $22.46.
Shares in both Macarthur Coal and Gloucester Coal were placed in trading halt at the request of the companies. Speculation has surfaced that Macarthur is set to make a takeover bid for Gloucester.
A decline in the price of crude failed to have a negative impact on Energy stocks. The sector advanced 0.7%.
Woodside added 35c to $47.50, while Origin rose 35c, or 2.2% to $16.57.
Santos slid 8c to $13.73 as Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the stock to “neutral”.
The Consumer Discretionary sector advanced 0.7% despite underperformance among retail and gaming majors.
News Corp jumped 50c, or 2.9% to $17.97 as the company announced in London that its stake in Sky Deutschland would increase from 39.96% up to a maximum of 45.4% following the agreement to subscribe to up to 49 million new registered shares via a capital increase that is expected to raise between Euro 110 million and Euro 120 million.
Rival media company Fairfax gained 3.5c to $1.645.
Consumer Staples edged 0.3% higher. Woolworth rose 21c to $26.90 and Wesfarmers lost 16c to $28.71.
Graincorp slumped 7.4% to $5.38 after a significant amount of its upgraded guidance was attributed to a contribution from the recently purchased malt business.
Industrials advanced 0.9% as the heavyweights registered solid gains.
Brambles climbed 4.4% to $6.70 after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned the company a BBB+ corporate credit rating and a stable rating outlook. S&P said the stable rating outlook reflects the underlying strength of the CHEP business, which underpins Brambles' overall business prospects and capacity to maintain financial metrics.
Reports surfaced that the company is also facing a public relations campaign in the US against its pallets.
Leighton and Toll put on 1.7% and 2.2% to $37.32 and $8.51 respectively.
Macquarie Airports edged 2c higher to $2.93 after agreeing offload its 35.5% interest in Bristol Airport and acquire a further 3.9% interest in Copenhagen Airports.
UGL lost 2.8% to $13.76 as UBS downgraded its rating on the stock to “neutral” citing the stock price rally over the past fortnight.
A 4c rise to $3.33 from Telstra led the Telecommunications sector to a 0.7% gain.
Around the region, the Nikkei 225 added 64.0 to 10,247.4, while the Straits Times Index gained 20.3 to 2,807.1. Meanwhile, the NZSE50 advanced 25.8 to 3,175.6.
Spot gold was trading at US$1,095.57 per ounce, and the Aussie was buying US$0.8801.
Murchison Metals flags jump in iron ore
Murchison Metals said that its JORC compliant mineral resource at its 50% owned Jack Hills iron ore mine now stood at 3 billion tonnes, allowing the project to now be considered both large scale and long life.
At noon, Murchison Metals shares were up 11c to $2.25.
Passenger numbers down at Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand reported a 0.6% drop in passenger numbers during November compared to the previous corresponding period. The company said demand fell 3.7% and capacity dropped 10.2%, increasing the group load factor by 5.4%.
Half way through the day, Air New Zealand shares were trading unchanged at 97c.
Nufarm receives revised takeover offer
Nufarm said it would seek clarification in relation to Sinochem Corporation’s revised offer price for all the shares in Nufarm. The Australian agrichemical company said Sinochem advised that it would not proceed with its previous offer of $13.00 per share and has instead proposed a price of $12.00 per share.
At lunchtime, Nufarm shares were halted at $10.56.
Graincorp flags rise in EBITDA
GrainCorp said this morning that following the harvest of the winter crop the grain handler is expecting EBITDA in the range of between $180 million and $210 million for the financial year ended 30 September 2010. For the year recently completed, EBITDA was $165.2 million, however in today's forecast there is a contribution from the recently purchased malt business of between $100 million and $120 million, indicating other businesses were contributing less.
At noon, Graincorp shares were down 41c, or 7.1% to $5.40.
