Midday Market Roundup

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.

The market is unchanged (yawn). The market was up 15 at best. The SFE Futures were up 24 this morning.

Wall St. closed down 9 overnight. The Dow was up 64 at best and down 29 at worst.

Metals had another solid session in London, Nickel the big mover – up 2.74%. A better than expected ISM Services index impressed the market.

Greece made more promises, enough to lift the Euro to a two week high. Gold put on $6 to $1143, Oil increased $1.49 to $80.93. The Aussie dollar improved to 90.52c from 90.39c yesterday morning.

Quiet day on the news front…

    * Gloucester Coal (GCL) says their independent directors recommend shareholders accept the MacArthur Coal (MCC) takeover offer in “the absence of a superior proposal”. MCC is offering 0.84 MCC shares for every one GCL shares (script alternative) or $8 cash for every one GCL share (cash alternative). GCL up 8c to 941c, MCC down 2c to 1128c.