The market is down 7. The SFE Futures were down 2 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed down 41 overnight. This followed a 280 point fall the day before and a 128 point rally the day before that. Dow up 17 at best and down 100 at worst. Moody’s put the US government’s Aaa credit rating under review for a possible downgrade unless they made progress on increasing the debt limit by mid-July. US economic data failed to inspire and the Euro hit a one month high. Metals were all down again overnight on the LME, the oil price was up 11c to $100.40 and Gold fell $10.50 to $1532.70. The Aussie dollar was up to 106.68c compared to 106.32c yesterday morning.

In the news today…

  • Fosters’ Group (FGL) up 5% to 449c on market talk that Molson Coors Brewing and another brewer are preparing to bid for them. FGL has a market value of $8.3bn. It was up 9.6% in the ADR form overnight.
  • According to the Financial Times, Lend Lease (LLC) is leading a consortium that is offering $4.96bn cash for Centro Properties Group’s (NCP) Australian assets. No comment from CNP as yet. LLC has also secured a $975m syndicated loan facility. LLC up 3c to 881c. CNP up 0.1c at 5.4c.
  • Horizon Oil (HZN) is acquiring Petsec Energy’s (PSA) 25% interest in an oil block under development in the Beibu Gulf, offshore southern China. Patersons maintain their Buy recommendation on HZN with a 49c target price. HZN down 2c to 36c.
  • Sandfire Resources (SFR) has released their DeGrussa Feasibility Study and increased payable copper production forecast to 231,000t in the first three years. SFR up 2c to 695c.
  • Rio Tinto (RIO) has secured land use partnerships with 5 indigenous groups in the Pilbara region of WA. RIO down 28c to 7982c.
  • Linc Energy (LNC) in a trading halt pending an announcement on an oil asset acquisition in North America. LNC last traded at 305c.
  • ASX Ltd (ASX) down 26c to 3155c today after rival Chi-X Australia announced it has gained support from major Australian brokerage houses and investment banks.
  • Tabcorp’s (TAH) demerger has been approved by the Supreme Court of Australia. TAH up 3c to 774c.
  • Wesfarmers (WES) had their Investor Strategy Day yesterday. Most brokers continue to like the stock and prefer it over Woolworths. Patersons maintain their Hold recommendation and 3517c target price. WES down 59c to 3200c.
  • Standard & Poors has added Aston Resources (AZT – 3.5%), Bathurst Resources (BTU – up 2.08%and NRW Holdings (NWH – up 2.5%) to the S&P ASX top 200 index as part of its June rebalance of market indices.

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