The market is down 18. The SFE Futures were down 30 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 8 overnight. The Dow was up 144 at best and down 55 at worst. News about the gradual unpegging of the Yuan to the US$ helped markets early but ran out of steam towards the end of the session. Metals were mostly up on the LME, the Oil price fell 18c to $77 and Gold also fell $17.60 to $1240.78. The Aussie dollar fell to 87.61c from 88.15c.

In other news today…

  • Elders (ELD) — Trading and Operational Update — Down 42.1% to 47.5c — they have downgraded earnings guidance and now expect a FY loss of between $8-$14m, compared to the original prospectus target of a $55.7m profit.
  • Telstra (TLS) received a positive response from analysts this morning following their heads of agreement with NBN Co. yesterday. Four brokers lifted their target price while most left their recommendation unchanged. TLS is down 5c today to 329c.
  • The plane carrying board members of Sundance Resources and Ken Talbot has been found in the Congo and 11 bodies recovered. SDL in a trading halt.
  • Transfield Services (TSE) has secured more than $200m worth of new work across Australia, NZ and US with their subsidiary favoured to supply oil spill clean up services in the Gulf of Mexico. TSE down 9c to 327c.
  • Extract Resources (EXT) announced that work on advancing the Rossing South Project development is progressing well and confidential talks with potential partners is ongoing. EXT down 2c to 710c.
  • Foster’s Group (FGL) has signed a long term exclusive distribution agreement with Southern Wine & Spirits of America Inc to sell wine in three of the largest US markets. FGL down 3c to 573c.
  • Macmahon (MAH) has been awarded a 4 year contract extension at Newmont Mining’s open cut gold mine in NZ. MAH down 1c to 61c.
  • Kingsgate Consolidated (KCN) announced that new high grade gold mineralisation has been intersected to the east of the proposed Q Pits at their Chatree North Mine in Thailand. KCN up 3c to 1082c.
  • The Directors of Corporate Express (CXP) have accepted the takeover offer made by Staples Australia. CXP up 1c to 562c.
  • JB Hi-Fi (JBH) down 3.24% to 1972c after being downgraded by a broker this morning. They expect retail to remain a tough environment in 2010.
  • Stocks hitting fresh 52 week lows include: Bannerman Resources (BMN), Elders (ELD), iSoft Group (ISF) and Pac Pacific Petroleum (PPP)

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