The market is down 102. The SFE Futures were down 79 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 163 on Friday. The Dow was down 2 at best and down 246 at worst. There are concerns that the EU and IMF’s rescue funds may not be successfully distributed. Metals were mostly down with Nickel down over 5%. Oil price fell $2.79 to $75.70, Gold dropped $1.60 to $1227.60 and the Aussie dollar dropped to 8849c, compared to 8954c Friday.

In other news today…

  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) announced a lower-than-expected $400m 3Q profit and $37.5bn of work in hand. Most analysts expected work in hand to be above the $40bn mark. They reiterate their FY net profit to be above $600m. LEI down 5.2% to 3283c.
  • Myer’s (MYR) 3Q sales numbers have failed to impress. The stock is down 5c to 306c. Sales remained flat, totaling $671m, up 0.3% on a like-for-like basis. Patersons maintain their BUY recommendation.
  • The Sunday Times reports that the National Australia Bank (NAB) is in discussions with Spain’s BBVA about creating a JV with then in the UK. There is also talk that they are looking to sell their investment platform to satisfy the ACCC’s concerns over their AXA bid.
  • Elders (ELD) up 3.8% to 108c after announcing a $1.1m underlying net profit. 1H net loss came in at $165.9m but expects a better performance in the 2nd half.
  • In a letter to shareholders, BHP Billiton’s (BHP) Chairman Jac Nasser said the government’s proposed super profits tax must only apply to new investments and any tax reform should not disadvantage the resources industry. BHP struggling today – down 3.42% to 3732c.
  • ANZ Bank (ANZ) has completed the acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail and commercial businesses in Singapore. They will rebrand the 5 ATMs and move customers and staff to ANZ with minimal disruption. ANZ down 2.37% to 2227c.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) has expanded their relationship with Canada Pension Plan Investment through the establishment of a $400m new fund. CPPI will own 80% of the fund. The transaction will need FIRB approval. The fund will buy Kmart development in Melbourne for $66.3m. GMG down 0.5c to 66.5c.
  • ARC Energy, a subsidiary of AWE Ltd (AWE) – has made a 40c a share takeover offer for Adelphi Energy (ADI). The offer represents a 42% premium to ADI’s last closing price of 28c. ADI up 48% to 41.5c. Aurora Oil & Gas (AUT), which is in a similar space to ADI is up 12% to 79c.
  • Personal finance commitments fell by a seasonably adjusted 1.3% in March to $6.874bn from $6.968bn.
  • Stock hitting fresh 52 week highs include: ASG Group (ASZ), CBH Resources (CBH) and Carnarvon Petroleum (CVN)

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