The market is down 7. The SFE Futures were down 1 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 11. The Dow was up 44 at best and down 29 at worst and is now at an 18 month high. Low volume again overnight leading into the Easter break. Economic data was better than expected and kept the markets out of negative territory. Oil price increased by 29c to $82.57, Gold fell $5 to $1105 and the Aussie dollar steady at 91.74c.

In the news today…

  • The National Australia Bank (NAB) has reached an agreement with AXA Asia Pacific (AXA) and their French parent company AXA SA. AXA shareholders can either accept the option of receiving cash of 643c for one AXA share they hold or alternatively, 159c in cash and 0.1745 NAB shares for every AXA share they own. Both stocks are out of their trading halts. AXA is down 2c to 633c today and the NAB is up 5c to 2775c. Broker opinions pretty much unchanged.
  • QBE Insurance (QBE) held their AGM this morning. They told investors they are on track to meet their FY insurance margin guidance and are confident of maintaining their dividend. They also added that 2010 would be a tough year for revenue and profit growth courtesy of a strong Aussie dollar. QBE down 15c to 2089c.
  • Macarthur Coal (MCC) — trading halt — pending an approach from a third party regarding a controlling interest. Talk is that MCC could see a takeover offer from Peabody Energy. If so, they would need to sit down and work with MCC’s major shareholders Citic, Posco and ArcelorMittal. MCC last traded at 1209c. Further consolidation in the sector is likely to lift all stocks.
  • Monadelphous (MND) has formed a JV with AnaeCo to deliver design-and-construct waste management solutions using AnaeCo’s patented DiCOM bioconversion option. MND down 7c to 1538c.
  • The RBA meets on the 6th April next Tuesday… after recent strong economic numbers the odds are on a rate rise although most brokers expect rates to hit 5.0% by year end which implies a 25bp rise every two or three months. So if not this month, next month.
  • Australian retail sales fell 1.4% to a seasonally adjusted $19.83bn in February from $20.12bn in January. Economists expected a 0.3% rise. Harvey Norman (HVN) down 1.1% to 362c, JB Hi-Fi (JBH) down 2.4% to 2020c and David Jones (DJS) down 6c to 479c.
  • The number of Australian houses and apartments approved for construction fell to a seasonally adjusted 3.3% in February. Economists expected approvals to have risen 2.1%.
  • Companies hitting fresh 52 week highs include: Centennial Coal (CEY), Giralia Resources (GIR), Mount Gibson (MGX) and Riversdale Mining (RIV).

The Dow Futures were down 8 at midday.

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