The market is up 20. The SFE Futures were up 32 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 103 overnight. The Dow was up 106 at best and down 1 at worst. It was its 5th straight session of gains. Bernanke maintained the Fed’s stance on low interest rates for an extended period of time. Metals struggled, Gold increased $6 to $1159 and oil put on $2.95 to $86.76. The Aussie dollar continued to rise — up to 93.49c from 92.87c.

In the news today…

  • China’s 1st Q GDP numbers are out – their economy grew by the fastest pace in nearly three years — up 11.9% in the quarter on the pcp. Consensus was for 11.7% against 10.7% in the 4th Q. CPI up by a lower than expected 2.4%. Consensus was 2.6%.
  • New Hope (NHC) have come to the table with a higher offer for Macarthur Coal (MCC) — they have added a cash alternative, offering 2.7 of their shares for every MCC share and an alternative 1450c cash per share for up to $950m. MCC has told their shareholder to take no action. MCC up 1.5% to 1574c.
  • Wesfarmers (WES) has also moved to a quarterly pricing arrangement with their coal customers for around 75% of contracted metallurgical coal. There is also talk that they might make an scrip bid for Incitec Pivot. The speculation hasn’t done much for the IPL share price — down 1c today to 326c.
  • OZ Minerals (OZL) produced 31,909 metric tons of copper in the 1stQ at their Prominent Hill mine in SA. They maintained guidance for average copper production between 2010 and 2012 of 100,000-110,000 tons a year. Costs fell on strong gold by-product credits. 1st Q gold output came in at 41,572 ounces. OZL up 5c to 127c.
  • Resolute Mining (RSG) doing well — up 5.65% to 121.5c – announced exceptionally wide intercept of gold ore during exploration drilling at Ravenswood project.
  • Australand Property Group (ALZ) expects that 2010 operating profit will be similar to 2009 and that the company is in a “much stronger” position post the GFC. ALZ unchanged 57c.
  • CSR Ltd (CSR) may be back in the corporate picture with rumours suggesting Bright Foods may not be the only bidder interested in their sugar division. CSR unchanged.
  • The ACCC will not oppose the Shell/PetroChina acquisition of Arrow Energy (AOE). AOE down 1c to 516c.
  • Kingsgate Consolidated (KCN) up 4.3% to 901c after announcing the potential for re-opening the previously closed Chatree Pits.
  • Companies hitting fresh yearly highs: ANZ Bank (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Goodman Group (GMG), IOOF Holdings (IFL), Mitchell Communications (MCU), News Corp (NWS) and Westpac Bank (WBC).

The Dow Futures were down 9 at midday.

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