At lunch on Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 index has fought back from its morning declines and is pushing a few points higher to 6,583.7 points.
Here's what has been happening on the market today:
Bank shares push higher.
It has been a positive day of trade for the banking sector on Tuesday. At lunch all of the big four banks are on the rise, but the best performer in the group is the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price with a gain of around 1%. This morning its shares were upgraded to an outperform rating with a $30.55 price target by analysts at Credit Suisse.
ACCC takes Medibank to court.
The Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price is down 2% at lunch after the ACCC revealed that it would be taking the private health insurer to court over allegation of false representations about benefits covered by its health insurance policies. The regulator alleges that Medibank falsely represented to members holding ahm Lite or ahm Boost policies that they were not entitled to cover for joint investigations or reconstruction procedures, when in fact their policies covered these procedures.
Reserve Bank meeting.
In a couple of hours the Reserve Bank of Australia will reveal whether it has made another cut to the cash rate. According to the latest cash rate futures contracts, the market has priced in a 13% probability of a rate cut at this meeting. However, next month the odds are materially higher at this stage.
Best and worst performers.
The best performer on the ASX 200 index on Tuesday has been the Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA) share price once again. After being hammered last week, bargain hunters have been scrambling to pick up shares this week. The Speedcast share price is up over 14.5% at lunch. Going the other way is the Spark Infrastructure Group (ASX: SKI) share price with a decline of 4%. The catalyst for this decline has been the utility infrastructure company's shares trading ex-dividend this morning for its 7.5 cents per share interim dividend.
