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Medibank falls on day two

The Australian share market is higher and the dollar has also recovered from overnight falls, but Medibank is lower in its second day of trade.

The private health insurer was down 0.7 per cent on yesterday’s close at $2.125 by 12:41pm (AEDT), having opened at $2.22 and traded as high as $2.23 upon listing at midday yesterday.

Medibank finished yesterday’s trade at $2.14, a 7 per cent gain for retail investors on the offer price, but a 1 cent decline for institutions that bought into the float at $2.15.

Mixed blessings on Medibank’s first day of trade

Elsewhere on the market, the two major miners were posting gains despite iron ore prices dropping below $US70 a tonne to a fresh five-and-a-half-year low.

BHP Billiton was up 1.1 per cent to $32.46, while Rio Tinto was 1.8 per cent higher at $58.46.

However, Fortescue Metals was down 0.4 per cent to $2.80 and higher cost producer Atlas Iron was down 2.4 per cent to 20 cents.

The major banks were boosting the market: Westpac’s 1 per cent gain was leading, with the other big four banks up around 0.5 per cent.

Telstra was posting a 0.7 per cent gain to $5.66.

Airlines were higher: Virgin was up 0.6 per cent, while Qantas was climbing rapidly with a 4.4 per cent gain to $1.82.

Overall, the ASX 200 was up 0.9 per cent to 5,382 and the broader All Ordinaries index was 46 points higher to 5,367.

The Australian dollar had also bounced back after steep overnight falls.

It had touched a four-year low of 85.15 US cents overnight, but was back up to 85.43 US cents by 12:53pm.

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