The local share market is on track to notch up a five-week high on the back of a quiet session in the U.S. as investors await the release of inflation data.
At noon AEST on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 42.5 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,352.4. The broader All Ordinaries was up 41.4 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,546.6.
The U.S. market had a mixed trading session overnight as investors mostly kept to the sidelines.
The S&P500 closed slightly higher while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost steam, which analysts say could suggest inflation in the U.S. may not be as positive as projected.
Markets in the United States are now predicting a 70 percent chance the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates by 0.25 percent in May.
Seven of the ASX’s 11 official sectors were up by noon, led by the materials and consumer staple sectors, which saw a 2 per cent and 1 per cent rise sector-wide, respectively.
WA gold miner Westgold Resources’ share price increased by 0.7 percent by the lunch break to $1.52 after posting a positive third-quarter production update which puts the company on track to achieve its upper end of gold production guidance for the financial year 2023.
The mining behemoths had been trending in the positive at midday, with BHP and Rio Tinto enjoying gains of more than three percent while Fortescue Metals was up 2.3 percent.
The major supermarkets had been on the up by lunch, with Coles Group seeing a 0.9 per cent increase followed closely behind by Woolworths Group which saw a 0.7 per cent rise.
Whitehaven Coal had been one of the bigger losers at noon, slipping 1.4 percent to $6.85 after the company downgraded its annual coal production and lifted its cost forecasts due to labour shortages and weather disruptions.
The financial sector led the losses after the sector experienced a 0.4 percent reduction.
The big four banks were all in the red, with CBA hit with the steepest loss of 0.8 percent, closely followed by NAB which was down 0.7 percent.
Westpac had been trading a quarter of a per cent lower, while ANZ’s shares were relatively flat.
The Australian dollar was buying 66.65 U.S. cents, from 66.69 U.S. cents on Tuesday.
