Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 10/17/2012

MIDDAY REPORT
(1pm AEDT)

Local stocks have rallied to fresh 14 month highs in early trade, on the back of positive moves on offshore markets. US markets rose overnight with investors encouraged by upbeat earnings results while European markets rallied on speculation Spain may be edging closer to asking for a sovereign bailout. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index is up 32.8pts or 0.7pct to 4546.7.

Financial stocks are all looking strong, with the sector firmer by 0.4pct. Shares in the ANZ Bank (ANZ) are the best of the big four, up 0.8pct to $25.99.

Index leader BHP Billiton (BHP) today released its quarterly production report, with coking coal and iron ore output beating expectations. However copper output was weaker than expected. BHP shares are up 1.2pct midsession to $33.44.

Shares in the Ten Network (TEN) are plummeting, down 7.5pct to $0.31 after private equity firm Champ terminated the agreement to buy Ten's outdoor advertising business EyeCorp for $145 million. Ten says it's talking to Champ about potentially amending the terms of the agreement in a bid to rescue the sale. The network had planned to use sale of Eye Corp to reduce its debt.

The Australian dollar is stronger across the board, worth US103.15c, €78.75 and £0.6395.

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