Big banks leading Australian shares higher at midday

[Pelican Press 0]

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Big banks leading *********** shares higher at midday

The local share market has been moving higher in morning trade, with the banking sector again leading the way.

At noon AEST on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 49.2 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 8,037.3, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 47.7 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 8,239.6.

Moomoo analyst Jessica Amir said investors were breathing a sigh of relief after the US market overnight rose for the first time this month, driven by dip-buyers, stabilising US inflation expectations and a series of better-than-expected corporate announcements.

Closer to home, the NAB Monthly Business Survey on Tuesday showed conditions dropped back below average in August after a brief uptick in July, with confidence sinking into negative territory.

“Conditions are now fairly clearly below average compared to the history of the survey, which reflects the weakness seen in the private sector broadly as the economy has slowed,” said NAB chief economist Alan Oster.

Separately, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index, based on interviews with 1,200 *********** adults conducted last week, found Australians were still pessimistic about the economy.

Westpac economist Matthew Hassan said while cost-of-living pressures had become a little less intense and fears about future interest rate hikes had waned, consumers had grown more concerned about where the economy was headed and what that might mean for jobs.

At lunchtime every sector of the ASX was in the green, with financials up the most, by 1.2 per cent.

CBA had grown 1.4 per cent, Westpac added 1.5 per cent, ANZ advanced 0.7 per cent and NAB was up 0.9 per cent.

Steadfast Group was the worst performer in the ASX200 at midday, down 12.3 per cent to $5.23 as its shares resumed trading after a one-day pause so it could respond to an investigation by ABC’s Four Corners program alleging that Steadfast paid kickbacks to strata management firms that bought its insurance policies.

In its statement, Steadfast said it holds itself to high professional and ethical standards, and rejected any suggestion that its businesses operate unethically or improperly channels any business to its related entities. All of its businesses, including brokerages and underwriting agencies, operate independently and actively complete with each other, Steadfast said.

Elsewhere, the heavyweight mining sector was up 0.4 per cent. BHP grew 0.5 per cent and Rio Tinto advanced 1.2 per cent, while Fortescue was basically flat.

The *********** dollar declined further against its US counterpart, buying 66.54 US cents, from 66.70 US cents at Monday’s ASX close.

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