The healthcare sector rose over 1% at midday Wednesday.

Australia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.8% in the 12 months to October, up from a 3.6% gain in the year to September, dampening expectations of a rate cut the Reserve Bank of Australia. The monthly trimmed mean CPI was 3.3% in the period, up from 3.2% in the year to September.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZE:FPH, ASX:FPH) reported fiscal first-half earnings of NZ$0.36 per share, up from NZ$0.26 a year earlier. Operating revenue for the six months ended Sept.30 was NZ$1.09 billion, compared with NZ$951.2 million a year earlier. The company said it expects fiscal-2026 operating revenue in the range of about NZ$2.17 billion to NZ$2.27 billion, up from its earlier guidance of NZ$2.15 billion to NZ$2.25 billion.

On the other hand, the communication services sector inched down 0.3%.

Airtasker's (ASX:ART) fiscal 2026 group revenue grew nearly 15% on the prior corresponding period, with the Airtasker marketplaces revenue growth of roughly 21%, moderated by declining Oneflare revenue.