Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange at noon on Wednesday:

AKI – AFRICAN IRON ORE – up 14 cents, or 35 per cent, at 54 cents

South African mining company Exxaro is set to buy African Iron, an Australian-listed company with iron ore operations in the Republic of Congo, for about $388 million.

BTT – BT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LTD – up three cents, or 1.68 per cent, at $1.815

Fund manager BT Investment Management says its assets under management rose slightly in the final quarter of 2011.

CWK – COALWORKS LTD – up 0.5 cents, or 0.83 per cent, at 60 cents.

While the market speculates about when Whitehaven Coal will bid for Coalworks, the likely takeover target says it will get on with developing its NSW coal assets in 2012.