The market is up 28. The SFE Futures were up 28 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 46 overnight. Dow up 325 at best but drifted towards the end of the session. The Dow was higher for a third day, closing up 146 points as Europe appears closer to resolving its debt crisis. But it lost over half of its gains after having been up as much as 325 points during the afternoon. The drop came as the Financial Times reported that a split had emerged among European leaders over the bailout terms for Greece’s debt. The German’s DAX put on 5.3%, France’s CAC-40 was up 5.7% and the FTSE 100 increased 4%. Metals were up on the LME, the oil price put on $4.21 to $84.45 and Gold was up $57.70 to $1652.50 and the Aussie dollar increased to 99.05c but still below parity.

Today’s main stories…

  • Wesfarmers (WES) has sold their Premier Coal business to Chinese-owned Yancoal Australian for $268.8m. WES will recognise a pre-tax profit of around $90m on the sale. WES up 28c to 3183c.
  • Paladin Energy (PDN) — Trading Halt — They are raising $70m via a share issue to institutional investors to strengthen the balance sheet and ensure they are well placed to meet all future commitments and pursue growth initiatives. PDN last traded at 131c.
  • Goodman Fielder (GFF) has also decided to raise capital. They announced after the close of market yesterday that they will raise $259m through a discounted 5-for-12 entitlement issue at an offer price of 45c (24% below the previous close of 59c). GFF last traded at 59c.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) iron ore chief executive Ian Ashby said there is no weakness in iron ore demand. He said Chinese iron ore demand for steel production would continue to lead demand for the next decade. The company plans to more than double iron ore production, to 350 mt per year by 2020. BHP up 6c to 3541c.
  • Myer Holdings (MYR) CEO Bernie Brooks said consumers were being “bludgeoned” by the carbon and flood reconstruction taxes while facing rising unemployment and higher living costs. He said that consumer confidence was “probably the worst we’ve seen it in 30 years”. MYR up 6c to 207c.
  • APN News & Media (APN) down 1c to 89c after re-affirming earnings guidance for the 2nd half, which is an encouraging result considering the challenging environment.
  • Sedgman (SDM) has been awarded an $85m contract to build a coal handling plant at a mine managed by Macarthur Coal (MCC). SDM up 6c to 186c.
  • The AFR’s Street Talk says don’t be surprised if Spotless Group (SPT) receive another takeover offer. SPT up 3.5c to 182.5c.
  • Stocks going ex-dividend today: Gerard Lighting (GLG — 2.8c), AV Jennings (AVJ — 1.5c)

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