The market is up 69. The SFE Futures were up 41 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 5 overnight. It is the end of the month. The ASX fell 1.99% in August. The S&P 500 was down 4.7% in August for its 3rd monthly loss in four months and its worst August since 2001. The Dow lost 4.3% on the month. Metals were down on the LME and the oil price fell $2.70 to $72.00, while Gold rose $11.10 to $1250.30. The Aussie dollar was up 1c to $89.29.

Today’s main points…

  • Australian 2nd quarter GDP was +1.2% above the consensus estimate of +0.9% and the +0.5% rise in the 1st Q. The annual rate, June 09 to June 10, was +3.2%. The market didn’t react much.
  • Private equity group KKR is running the numbers on Primary Health Care (PRY). They are interested to know whether RHC chairman, and 43% shareholder, Paul Ramsay is a seller. KKR missed out on buying Healthscope. No surprise that private equity would be looking at a stock that fallen 48.4% in the past year. PRY up 4.33%.
  • The Federal Court upheld Elders’ (ELD) appeal against a tax office assessment relating to the float of Elders predecessor Futuris’ building products division in 1997. If not appealed, Elders expects to receive about $30m. ELD up 7.03%.
  • Nufarm (NUF) down 4.16% after releasing preliminary annual results. Net operating profit will be within the $55m-$65m range as indicated in July. Net debt at July 31 will be around $620m, higher than its earlier estimate of $450m due to increased working capital.
  • Worley Parsons (WOR) secured a contract for ExxonMobil Canada Properties Hebron Project worth US$285m over 5 years. WOR will provide overall project management of the contract with subcontractors to be awarded to multiple 3rd parties. WOR up 1.11%.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) says their Middle Eastern JV Al Habtoor Leighton Group has won a $220m construction contract in Dubai. LEI up 1.73% to 3123c.
  • BHP and Japanese steelmakers have agreed to a 7% cut in coking coal prices for the 3 months ending in December. BHP up 1.67%.
  • APN Property Group (APD) has completed the acquisition of Singapore based fund manager ARA Strategic Capital. APD unchanged at 20c.
  • James Hardie (JHX) asbestos fund may need to be bailed out. The fund was set up to compensate victims but is likely to be $240m in debt by 2015. JHX up 2.06%.

For a free 5 day obligation free trial of the MARCUS TODAY newsletter (and no we won’t ask for a credit card number) please Click Here – you will receive our renowned and popular Daily email about the stockmarket with all the stuff you need to know ahead of the trading day including overnight developments, news, comments, rumours, broker stuff and Ideas from Marcus and his Team. You will also be given a password to the MARCUS TODAY website including access to our Recommended Portfolio which is actively managed on behalf of subscribers.…no “set & forget”. Everything you need to effortlessly managed your own long term investment portfolio.

It includes an Income Portfolio. And for the traders we monitor short and medium term trades on top of the portfolio. Members also get access to our Database – all the numbers with comments on the ASX 200 stocks and more. Members also get access to our Educational section which includes an archive of Marcus’s Educational and Entertaining articles. We are sure you will enjoy and profit from what we offer. Thousands of subscribers enjoy and profit from our services every day. We have one of the highest re-subscription rates in the financial newsletter industry.

For your FREE TRIAL — Click here

To Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY — Click Here