Australian shares were lower by noon Thursday as losses among financials outweighed gains in commodity stocks. The Aussie dollar opened higher on the back of drop in the value of the greenback and following yesterday’s comments by the Reserve Bank that Australia’s economy would continue to grow in the near future.

At lunch, the All Ords lost 10.0 to 4,731.0, while the ASX/200 shed 11.5 to 4,710.7. About 1.4 billion shares worth around $1.8 billion had changed hands. 

Banks and Financials took the most points off the index to be down 1% overall.

Westpac fell 42c, or 1.7% to $23.95, while the other three major banks were between 0.7% and 0.8% below the line.

Bank of Queensland weakened 1.1% to $10.98 as it announced the resignation of Peter Fox as director.

Insurers QBE and Suncorp-Metway fell 56c and 21c to $22.63 and $8.79 respectively.

Tower Australia shares slumped 8.2% to $3.01 after reporting a 32% drop in full year net profit.

Property Trust stocks were mainly flat, resulting in the sector being only 0.2% lower. 

Mirvac advanced 1c to $1.55 after Mirvac Real Estate Investment Trust shareholders voted in favour of the parent company’s takeover offer. Mirvac Real Estate Investment Trust shares have been suspended.

The Materials and Resources sector received a boost from a rise in all metals prices on the LME overnight, including a 1.7% rise in the price of copper.

BHP Billiton added 34c to $41.53, while Rio Tinto dipped 95c to $70.75. In the UK their respective shares advanced 3.1% and lost 0.8%.

Speculation surfaced that Chinalco is set to sell its 12% stake in Rio. The sector put on 0.5%.

Gold miners advanced as the price of the precious metal reached a record high for the third time this week. Newcrest jumped 2.3% to $37.83 and Lihir gained 1.1% to $3.69.

Packaging company Amcor rose 1.6% to $5.72 after announcing it may be forced to divest a flexible packaging plant as it seeks to have its proposal to purchase parts of Alcan packaging passed by anti-trust legislators in the US and Europe.

The Energy sector put on 0.6% after the price of crude rose to be just shy of US$78 a barrel. Woodside and Santos gained 47c and 12c to $49.88 and $14.95 respectively.

New Hope added 2c to $4.30 as the company countered reports it was looking to sell its 16.8% stake in Arrow Energy. The company said it was not in talks with any party regarding the sale.

Arrow shares gained 2% to $4.07.

Aquila Resources rallied 3.1% to $10.09. The coal and iron ore explorer was trading at $2 at the beginning of March this year. 

A mixed morning from Industrials saw the sector 0.1% higher by midday.

Of the heavyweights Brambles put on 10c to $6.65, while Leighton shed 51c to $36.14 despite a rating and price target upgrade from JPMorgan in broker reports this morning.

CSR lost 3.5c to $1.76 as the company announced it had completed the sell off of a shortfall of new shares in its recently announced $375 million equity raising. The shares were sold at a 2.5% discount to the last traded price.

Norfolk Group surged 12.6% to 85c following a broker upgrade. The company reported a 30% jump in profit for the six months to 30 September.

Woolworths added 14c to $28.32 as the company reaffirmed profit growth of between 8% and 11% for the current financial year.

Wesfarmers shed 21c to $29.33, while Coca-Cola Amatil dropped 1.3% to $10.52.

The Consumer Staples sector had weakened 0.4%.

Losers slightly outweighed gainers within Consumer Discretionary as the sector slid 0.1%.

Heavyweight retailer Harvey Norman lost 8c, or 1.8% to $4.42, while media company Fairfax fell 1.5% to $1.635.

Macquarie Media dropped 6.9% to $1.89.

Gamers were led higher by Aristocrat and Tatts Group. Their shares were 2.5% and 1.2% higher at $4.14 and $2.47 respectively.

Telstra put on 4c to $3.42, leading the Telecommunications sector to a 0.7% gain.

Around the region, the Nikkei 225 lost 58.8 to 9,382.8, while the Straits Times Index gained 3.1 to 2,795.9. Across the Tasman, the NZSE50 added 4.3 to 3,119.7.

Spot gold was trading at US$1,189.00 per ounce, and the Aussie was buying US$0.9279. 

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Woolworths eyes 8% - 11% profit growth
Woolworths, at its AGM in Sydney this morning, reaffirmed its guidance for the current financial year, saying sales, not including petrol, were expected to be in the upper single digit range. The retailing giant also forecast post-tax profit to be in the vicinity of between 8% and 11%. At lunch, Wooworths shares were just higher, up 11c to $28.29.

Tower Australia profit drops 32%
Tower Australia said full year net profit declined 32% compared to a year earlier to $46.4 million. The independent, specialist life insurer attributed the fall to investment market impacts and non-cash items including higher amortisation charge.

Half way through the day, Tower Australia Group shares were trading down 26c to $3.02. 

CSR sells shortfall at discount
CSR announced the successful completion of the shortfall bookbuild for its $375 million capital raising. The company said the bookbuild was priced at $1.75, representing a discount of 2.5% to the last traded share price.

At midday, CSR shares were down 3.5c to $1.76.

NZ's Tower profit jumps 23.8% to $50m
New Zealand based insurer Tower reported a 23.8% jump in post-tax profit to $50.08 million for the year to 30 September 2009. The company’s profit was underpinned by growth across Health & Life, General Insurance and Investments.

At noon, Tower shares were up 8c to $1.53.

Neptune secures $20m in contracts
Neptune Marine Services said it had been awarded around $20 million in new contracts as trading conditions improve in the domestic and international oilfield market. 

Half way through the day, Neptune shares were trading down 1.5c at 71c.