Banks and miners lead stocks higher in early trade

The sharemarket was higher at noon, as gains for Rio and the Big Four offset falls for gold producers and Bega.

Images of the ASX in Bridge St, Sydney. (Picture: Toby Zerna)

The Australian sharemarket was trading higher at noon, as lifts in resources giant Rio Tinto and cancer treatment developer Sirtex offset falls in gold miners and dairy processor Bega Cheese.

At midday (AEDT), the benchmark S & P/ASX 200 index was up 35 points, or 0.65 per cent, at 5,443.5 points. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 33 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,522.1 points.

Rio Tinto was trading 34 cents, or 0.66 per cent, higher at $51,57, while rival BHP was down 2 cents or 0.09 per cent at $23.07 and Fortescue Metals had gained 9.5 cents or 1.86 per cent to $5.20.

Gold miners were lower, with Newcrest down 24 cents, or 1.09 per cent, and $21.73, and Nothern Star was 2.5 cents, or 0.62 per cent, worse off at $3.99.

Bega Cheese had slumped 96 cents, or 14.79 per cent, to $5.53, by 12.27pm (AEDT) after the dairy processor told shareholders its joint venture with Blackmores to sell nutritional powders in China hadn’t met sales expectations. Blackmores shares were flat, up four cents, or 0.04 per cent, at $112.76.

Mirvac shares were up 1.5 cents, or 0.7 per cent, at $2.085 at 12.09pm (AEDT) after the property developer said it expected a strong year despite ongoing settlement delays from foreign buyers and the rate of defaults edging higher.

And shares in cancer treatment developer Sirtex Medical lifted 92 cents, or 3.15 per cent, to $30.12 after it said it expected double-digit sales growth this year and the results of three studies.

All four big banks were up ahead of their upcoming profit reports, beginning with National Australia Bank on Thursday.

IG chief market strategist Chris Weston said earlier the banks would drive moves through the session as investors awaited the release of trading updates from the big four in the coming week.

“We should see some modest buying (on the ASX), specifically in the financial space,” he said.

“As we saw yesterday, with Aussie financials rallying 0.8 per cent off the opening low and subsequently dragging the broader index with it, there seems little concern about buying banks ahead of 2H 2016 earnings.

“The earnings release start on Thursday with NAB, with the financials having gained 2.3 per cent thus far in October, just lagging behind the staples sector.”

AAP