Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange at noon on Monday:
AZJ – AURIZON – down 21.5 cents, or 4.16 per cent, at $4.955
AQA – AQUILA RESOURCES – up 90 cents, or 36.73 per cent, at $3.35
Shares in Aquila Resources have risen 37 per cent after rail operator Aurizon and Chinese steelmaker Baosteel Resources launched a $1.42 billion bid for the iron ore miner.
BEN – BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK – in a trading halt, last traded at $11.39
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will pay $1.78 billion to buy the Victorian government’s agribusiness lender Rural Finance Corporation.
IVC – INVOCARE – up 4.0 cents, or 0.38 per cent, at $10.49
Bledisloe New Zealand, the local funeral services arm of Australia’s largest undertakers InvoCare, has sought antitrust clearance to buy the 70-year-old Cremation Society of Canterbury.
TLS – TELSTRA – up 0.5 cent, or 0.10 per cent, at $5.205
The sale of Telstra’s Hong Kong mobile business is expected to go ahead within weeks after the local regulator approved the move.
WBC – WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – down 43 cents, or 1.23 per cent, at $34.44
Shares in Westpac are flat in early trading after the bank revealed a record first half cash profit of $3.77 billion.
WES – WESFARMERS – up 9.5 cents, or 0.22 per cent, at $43.145
Australia’s competition watchdog is taking supermarket giant Coles to court over what is alleges is the “unconscionable” treatment of its suppliers.