News: Midday: Aus shares pare early gains

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Following positive leads, The Australian sharemarket pushed higher on open but by midday gains were erased and the market is trading flat.

 

Wall Street saw record high closes for the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices overnight but the optimism only flowed onto the local market briefly with a further drop in the iron ore and gold prices weighing.

 

The Aussie dollar slumped below $US0.86 overnight and it has continued its slide south despite the ABS offering a steady read on unemployment.

 

The S&P/ASX 200 indexis 10 points down at 5,508. On the futures market the SPI is 17 points lower.

 

Economic news

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported the unemployment rate has remained steady at 6.2 per cent in October based on a revised September figure.

 

Company news

 

Ten Network Holdings Limited(ASX:TEN) has appointed Citi to assist in assessing a range of potential strategic options for the company. The commercial TV operator says the announcement came in response to speculation about a potential buyout of the company. Shares in Ten have jumped8.14 per cent on the news, to $0.23.

 

Fairfax Media Limited (ASX:FXJ) has reported a slip in group revenue in the year to date with a tough advertising market underlying the result. The diversified media company says overall group revenues are down to 2 to 3 per cent for the year to date. CEO Greg Hywood highlighted growth by Domain which increased revenues by 21 per cent. Shares in Fairfax are trading down1.54 per cent at $0.80.

 

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector is energy, gaining 0.6 per cent to 13,467. Shares in Drillsearch Energy Limited (ASX:DLS) have risen 3.3 per cent and trading at $1.09. Shares in Senex Energy Limited (ASX:SXY) and Beach Energy Limited (ASX:BPT) are also stronger.

 

The worst performing sector is financials excluding REIT, falling 0.8 per cent to 7,344. Shares in Ozforex Group Limited (ASX:OFX)have fallen 4.1 per cent, trading at $2.34. Shares in Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited (ASX:GMA) and Insurance Australia Group Limited (ASX:IAG) are also lower.

 

Gold and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,143 an ounce.

The Australian dollar is buying $US0.8574 at midday.