Midday Market Roundup

The market is up 4. The SFE Futures were up 20 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 3. Highest volume in 2 weeks. The Dow was up 37 at best and down 38 at worst. The NASDAQ hit a new 52 week high. Financials did well again after the European Commission President Romano Prodi said the worst of Greece’s budget crisis is over.

Oil up 89c to $81.38, Gold down $14 to $1108 and the Aussie dollar increased to 91.54c from 91.40c.

In the news today…

    MYER Ltd (MYR) – Interim Result better than expected – Net profit (excluding IPO costs) came in at $115m, up 38% and ahead of the $111.3m analysts expected. They declared a 10.5c dividend and reiterated FY total sales growth guidance. Hasn’t inspired the share price – up 2c to 349c.

    Equinox Minerals (EQN) announced an Full year profit of $195.7m and cash reserves of $109.1m. Price up 4c to 381c.

The market is down 8. The SFE Futures were up 9 this morning.

Wall St. closed slightly higher overnight – up 12 – It was the anniversary of the 2009 bear market low. The Dow was up 60 at best and down 19 at worst. Financials did well on talk the US government would sell its stake in Citigroup.

Metals were mixed overnight on London, oil fell slightly and Gold dropped $1.70 to $1122. The Aussie dollar improved to 91.40c from 90.93c.

In the news today…

    * Atlas Iron (AGO) and Aurox (AXO) have agreed to merger. AXO up a massive 144% or 39c to 66c after their shareholders were offered one Atlas share for every 3 Aurox shares they own, implying a value of 74c based on AGO’s closing price yesterday. AGO down 4c today to 217c.

    * Alesco Corporation (ALS) down 30% to 319c after downgrading their FY earnings guidance to 24-27c from 34-36c. Patersons has cut their recommendation to Sell from Buy.

The market is up 2. The SFE Futures were up 7 this morning.

Wall St. closed slightly lower overnight – down 13 – second lowest volume on the NYSE this year. The Dow was up 22 at best and down 24 at worst. Issues surrounding Greece continue. Gold fell $10 to $1124, oil dropped 21c to $81.72 and the Aussie dollar increased slightly to 90.93c from 90.84c.

    * Arrow Energy Takeover Offer – Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina (China's largest listed oil company) launched a joint $3.3bn bid for Arrow Energy yesterday. The stock jumped 46.8% to 511c but is down 5c today to 506c. They are jointly offering AOE shareholders 445c a share cash – a 28% premium to Friday’s closing price of 348c – and one share in a new entity that would comprise its international business (which one broker values at 55c a share) for each existing AOE share making @ 500c in total.

    * BHP Billiton announced yesterday they had secured a 55% rise in coking coal prices from a Japanese customer for the April-June quarter. This has basically ended the system of annual pricing contracts…for coal anyway. BHP down 27c to 4324c.

    * Street Talk reports rumours that the ACCC will block the National Australia Bank’s (NAB) bid for AXA Asia Pacific (AXA) when they announce their decision on March 17th. If that is the case, one would expect AMP to re-enter the picture. National Australia Bank up 44c to 2677c, AXA down 5c to 631c and AMP up 2c to 615c.

The market is up 21. The SFE Futures were up 21 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 47 overnight. Dow up 55 at best and down 6 at worst. Volumes were thin ahead of the jobs numbers tonight. Lots of economic data overnight.

Metals fell overnight, Gold dropped $9 to $1133 and the oil price lost 29c to $80.40. The Aussie dollar fell to 90.05c from 90.52c yesterday morning.

In the news today…

    * CSR Ltd (CSR) up 1c too 169c – not much of a reaction from yesterday’s report that China’s Bright Food might bid again for their sugar unit. Would be positive if they did. 

    * Extract Resources (EXT) announced a 1H net loss of $13.4m. They are currently carrying out a feasibility study on the Rossing South uranium project in Namibia. They have $99.3m cash on hand and say uranium demand will continue to grow “for many years to come”. EXT down 3c to 750c.