Australian stocks are building on their early gains as Thursday's trading session unfolds, displaying resilience in the face of a turbulent Wall Street session marred by worries about the worldwide economic outlook and interest rate fluctuations.
At around noon, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.42 per cent higher at 7,024.90.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 35 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector is Consumer Discretionary, up 0.91 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Information Technology, down 3.33 per cent.
The best-performing large cap is South32 (ASX:S32), trading 2.57 per cent higher at $3.19. It is followed by shares in Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) and Allkem (ASX:AKE).
The worst-performing large cap is Xero (ASX:XRO), trading 9.39 per cent lower at $103.95. It is followed by shares in Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM) and ResMed (ASX:RMD).
Asian news
Most Asia-Pacific markets edged higher Thursday after indexes in the region fell for two straight days, as investors focus on inflation data from China.
South Korea’s main index, the Kospi, dropped 3.24% in the last two sessions, erasing more than half of what it gained earlier in the week when the country re-imposed a ban on short selling.
Market participants now await October consumer prices data from China, which is expected to fall 0.1% year-on-year according economists polled by Reuters. Producer prices are expected to decline 2.7%, according to a Reuters poll.
The Kospi rose 0.07%, inching higher after two days of declines, while the Kosdaq opened lower at 0.21%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.28% at open, and the Topix was flat.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 17,700, higher than its last close of 17,568.46.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1955.40 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1.3 per cent higher at US$127.70 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 1.78 per cent rise.
One Australian dollar is buying 64.07 US cents.
