The ASX is following US stocks higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) up 1% at noon.
The local gains follow a solid rise on Wall Street overnight where US investors appeared to brush off hints from the Federal Reserve that tapering would continue and that the Fed was preparing for rate hikes in the future, focusing instead on company earnings results which were by and large pleasing.
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 both rallied finishing the session up 1% and 0.8% respectively.
On the Australian market today stocks have also been boosted by the HSBC Flash China PMI data which hit a five-month high in May.
All sectors are trending higher at midday with the materials, energy, industrials, IT and health care sectors all jumping more than 1%.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index at midday today:
- Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) has jumped 7.5% to $1.00
- UGL Limited (ASX: UGL) has rallied 5.2% to $6.70
- Alumina Limited (ASX: AWC) has climbed 5% to $1.40
- Qube Holdings Ltd (ASX: QUB) has gained 5% to $2.30
- Skilled Group Ltd. (ASX: SKE) has added 4.7% to $2.88
These are the five worst performing stocks at midday today: