The local bourse has once again resisted the heavy falls on Wall Street overnight but is still trading lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) down 0.27% at lunchtime.
Overnight, US markets continued to drop with both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 down around 1%, resulting in the biggest three-day drop in two months.
Economic news this morning has focussed on the signing of a Free Trade Agreement with Japan and its flow on effects for industries and companies. In company news, Australian mortgage insurer Genworth has launched its long awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) which, at $2 billion, is the largest float so far this year.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index at midday today:
- Mesoblast limited (ASX: MSB) has rallied 6.7% to $4.92
- Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE) has jumped 6.4% to $3.84
- PanAust Limited (ASX: PNA) has added 2.5% to $1.66
- Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) has risen 1.9% to $1.35
- Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) has gained 1.5% to $10.45
These are the five worst performing stocks at midday today:
- Cabcharge Australia Limited (ASX: CAB) has fallen 5.6% to $3.86
- TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM) has dropped 4.7% to $6.10
- Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) has lost 4.6% to $12.52
- REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) has slipped 4.2% to $44.27
- Platinum Asset Management Limited (ASX: PTM) has declined 4.1% to $7.19
