The market is having a good day – up 49. The SFE Futures were down 4 this morning.

Wall St was CLOSED overnight for the Presidents Day holiday. China closed all week. Oil fell 58c to $74.01. The Aussie dollar fell slightly to 88.77c compared to 88.88c yesterday morning.

A few of today’s results…

  • Foster’s Group (FGL) — below expectations — announce a 13.5% fall in 1H profit to $355.7m from $411.3m, analysts predicted $380.6m.
  • Monadelphous (MND) — better than expected — announce a 10% rise in 1H profit to $40.5m. Patersons expected an interim NPAT of $33.9m.
  • Seek (SEK) — better than expected — 1H profit increased to $36.6m, up 12.6%. Analysts expected $30.9m with estimates ranging from $28.5m to $32.6m.
  • OneSteel (OST) — better than expected — 1H10 net profit down 49% to $117m but still comes in ahead of expectations. Macmahon (MAH) — announce a 1H net profit of $21.5m. Patersons expected $18.6m.
  • Primary Health Care (PRY) — well below expectations – says 1H net profit came in at $76.6m, compared to the $91m analysts expected.
  • Western Areas (WSA) — in line with guidance – announces a FY net profit result of $10.675m on revenue of $85.5m. Patersons rate the stock as a Hold.

In other news…

  • Westpac Bank (WBC) — 1Q Trading Update — 1Q10 unaudited cash earnings up 335 to $1.6bn thanks to falls in charges for bad loans and momentum across all its businesses. One broker has described it as a positive read and would expect upgrades to consensus on the back of it. WBC up 5.28% to 2453c.
  • RBA Board Minutes: The RBA says it left rates unchanged at its previous meeting to assess the impact of earlier rates rises. The tone suggests that a rate hike may be less likely that we thought at its next meeting.

The Dow Futures are down 53 at midday.