The market is up 1. We were down 21 at one stage. The SFE Futures up 29 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 5 overnight. The Dow was up 41 at best and down 184 at worst. The Dow was down nearly 200 half way through the session. Metals struggled again overnight in London — Nickel down 5.3% and Zinc down 4.91%. The oil price closed at a three month low and the Euro hit a four year low. The Aussie dollar continued to struggle — down to 8773c from 8849c.

In other news today…

  • Macarthur Coal (MCC) has rejected Peabody’s revised offer for $15 a share. Peabody lowered their bid from $16 a share to $15 after undertaking due diligence of the government’s proposed new tax laws. MCC down 12% to 1174c.
  • The Reserve Bank of Australia has released its minutes from its May meeting. They suggest rates will be kept on Hold in June. They say members felt the 25bps rise in May “would leave monetary policy well placed for the present”.
  • AXA Asia Pacific (AXA) says they will consider terminating their support for the NAB’s $13.29bn takeover bid if it does not win the endorsement of the ACCC by the end of this month. AXA down 5c to 594c.
  • Patersons has released their Oil and Gas Review for May. Some of their Best Buys include Antares Energy (AZZ) trading around 90% below its target price, Horizon Oil (HZN), AWE Ltd (AWE) and Aurora Oil & Gas (AUT).
  • Bradken (BKN) in a trading halt – last traded at 725c — They announced a profit upgrade this morning and that they intend to buy the business assets of Canada’s Almac Machine Works for $51m. They will raise $50m via an underwritten institutional placement to fund the acquisition and reduce debt.
  • Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board has sold their 12.3% stake in Transurban (TCL) at 444c a share after TCL rejected their improved takeover offer. TCL down 5.7% to 441c.
  • Perpetual (PPT) down 3.41% to 3233c after announcing funds under management for the month remained steady.
  • Street Talk reports the private equity consortium bidding for Healthscope (HSP), believed to be TPG and Carlyle Group, may look to split the group up and sell its businesses. HSP down 1c to 519c.
  • Riversdale Mining (RIV) have increased their coal reserves by 84% to 502m tons at their Benga Mine. RIV down 14c to 884c.
  • Talk of Telstra (TLS) being at risk of missing their FY profit guidance. TLS up 3c to 300c today.
  • Stock hitting fresh 52 week highs include: Alesco Corp (ALS), Australasian Resources (ARH), Arafura Resources (ARU), AWE Ltd (AWE) and Gunns (GNS)

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