The Australian share market is higher on positive leads from Wall Street.
The local share market continues to take its lead from a positive US session overnight as the Reserve Bank of Australia’s minutes, released on Tuesday morning, offered no new insights, Lonsec senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said.
“The American market was good last night and that gave us some impetus,” he said.
“The Reserve Bank minutes have said nothing new. The bottomline is that interest rates will be on hold for some time.”
US stocks extended their rally that began late last week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 19.26 points (0.12 per cent) at 16,399.67.
In Australia, the banks and miners were mixed at noon, with the Commonwealth Bank shedding early morning gains.
At 1200 AEDT, the Commonwealth Bank was down 18 cents to $77.08, while Westpac lost eight cents to $33.49, but ANZ added 10 cents to $32.55 and National Australia Bank gained 11 cents to $33.55.
Among the miners, BHP Billiton had shed four cents to $33.80, while Rio Tinto had climbed 42 cents to $60.15 and Fortescue Metals was 10 cents higher at $3.56.
Newcrest Mining dropped one cent to $9.80, after re-affirming its full year guidance, despite a 12 per cent fall in its gold production in the September quarter.
Telstra was up 2.5 cents to $5.425.
Bread and spreads maker Goodman Fielder rose 0.5 cents to 62.5 cents after the federal government approved a foreign takeover of the company.
Southern Cross Austereo shed four cents, or 4.32 per cent, to 88.5 cents after the broadcaster announced its expecting steeper falls in its underlying earnings because of advertising and ratings pressures.
The market is waiting on Chinese data, including gross domestic product growth figures, that will be released around 1300 AEDT.
KEY FACTS
* At 1200 AEDT on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 9.4 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 5,328.8 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was also up 9.4 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 5,316.7 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was up five points at 5,311 points, with 12,753 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 569 million securities worth $1 billion.
