Our market is a little disappointingly down 4 considering the SFE Futures were up 40 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 105. The Dow Jones index was up 123 at best and down 62 at worst. The EU said overnight they will provide financial aid for Greece but are yet to confirm any details. Oil finished up 35c to $75.52c, Gold also put on $19 to $1095 and the Aussie dollar increased to 89.04c compared to 87.56c. US Market are closed on Monday for the Presidents Day Holiday.

Rio Tinto (RIO) released its result late yesterday — The numbers came in better than expected — underlying result of $US6.298bn, 5% above the $US6bn analysts expected. Declared a final dividend US45c, down from US111c (down 60%). RIO up 3.13% to 7190c.

Today’s results…

  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) — better than expected — announces a 1H net profit of $288.9m compared to the $279.2m analysts expected. Revenue fell slightly to $9.012bn from $9.146bn and they declared an interim dividend of 65c, up from 60c last year. They left guidance unchanged. Market a bit disappointed that the order book didn’t grow much suggesting a slowing in the infrastructure market. LEI down 3.05% to 3713c.
  • Newcrest Mining (NCM) — bit below expectations — announced an underlying 1H underlying result of $266.6m, below the $270m-$281m analysts expected. In a sign of confidence perhaps, they have declared a maiden interim dividend of 5c. NCM up 21c to 3265c.
  • Paladin (PDN) announces a 1H net loss of $US19m with 1H revenue coming in at $101.2m. They have $US432m of cash on hand and will not pay a dividend. PDN down 4.7% to 345c.

In other news…

  • Talk of a bid for Austar (AUN) from Foxtel. AUN up 2c to 127.5c.
  • Fortescue Metals (FMG) — Founding director Graeme Rowley will retire in March. He continues as a non-exec. FMG up 2.95% to 489c.
  • Street Talk says CSR Ltd (CSR) is talking to Bright Food again about selling its sugar business after the ACCC blocked their demerger plans. CSR up 0.5c to 169.5c.
  • Charter Hall Group (CHC) remains in a trading halt after announcing the acquisition of Macquarie Group’s real estate management platform for $189m and a $220m equity raising. The deal will create over $10bn in assets under management. They plan a $85m equity placement to Macquarie. CHC last traded at 75.5c.
  • Ramelius Resources (RMS) says they will accept an offer from Avoca Resource (AVO) for their 37.51% stake in Dioro Exploration (DIO). RMS down 1.5c to 60c.
  • Ten Network (TEN) and SMS Management (SMX) have both hit yearly highs today.

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