Australian equities are on track to deliver their second consecutive session of gains as most sectors gained ground during lunch time trade.
The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is up 0.5% at 5845 and the rally would be even more impressive if not for the big drops in bank stocks following Westpac Banking Corp's (ASX: WBC) disappointing result.
Westpac suffered its worst fall since 2011 (4.9%) before clawing back some lost ground to be down 3% at $35.63 after management posted a weaker than expected first half profit of $3.78 billion.
The stock is the third worst performer on the ASX 200 index in late morning trade.
The news was enough to sink the sector as the graph below shows, with National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) slipping 0.8% to $36.50 and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) falling 1.6% to $33.59 ahead of their results announcement later this week.
Source: National Australia Bank / Brendon Lau
Mining stocks contributed most to the broader market rally with Africa-focused miner Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) counting itself among the top five gainers on the top 200 index in late morning with a 2.8% jump to $4.01.
The diversified miner said its Balama graphite project has secured environmental approval to operate from the Mozambique government and this has significantly lowered the risk for the project.
But there seems to be more bad than good company news today despite the positive mood on the market.
Oil & gas engineering contractor Worleyparsons Limited (ASX: WOR) is the worst ASX 200 performer after management warned that its second half earnings would be about half of its first half due to big one-off write-downs and weak demand for its services.
The stock shed 10.7% to $10.23.
The second biggest drag on the top 200 benchmark is marine services company MMA Offshore Ltd (ASX: MRM) with a 6.2% fall from grace to 68 cents.
MMA Offshore, which also services the oil & gas industry, gave a bleak operating update due to weaker than expected trading activity for the March quarter.
Transport and logistics company McAleese Ltd (ASX: MCS) is another to take the wooden spoon with the stock crashing 47.5% to 8.4 cents when management forecasted 2014-15 operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around $70 million, or nearly a third less than what brokers polled on Bloomberg were expecting.
