The market is up 98. The SFE Futures were up 88 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 208 overnight. The S&P 500 had a second straight day of strong gains to take it back into positive territory for the year. There were two catalysts overnight, the Greek PM meeting with Merkel and Sarkozy and deciding not to proceed with the referendum, and the ECB unexpectedly announcing it would cut interest rates by 0.25% to 1.25%. Italian 10 year bond yields not much improved … still at 6.194% … hit 6.4%.The gold price was up 2.1% on news of the rate cut. The Australian dollar also rallied on the news, and was up more than 2¢ at one point — it’s now buying 104.10¢. The oil price put on $1.77 to $94.28 and Metals were mostly up on the LME.

Main points:

  • The All Ords up 7.1% in October after falling 6.9% in September. The ASX said the average value of daily cash market trading was $4.7bn a day in October, down from $5.4bn in September.
  • As part of their November Statement on Monetary Policy, the RBA said it will leave the door open for further rate cuts, as the biggest risk to the economy was Europe’s sovereign debt crisis which is expected to generate ongoing volatility for world financial markets.
  • Centro Retail (CER) — Trading Halt pending an announcement regarding their refinancing arrangements. CER last traded at 28c.
  • Rio Tinto’s (RIO) head of iron ore said quarterly iron ore pricing for Japanese clients will continue. Japanese clients are paying $170 per ton in the October-December quarter, however spot prices have fall to around $100 per ton. RIO up 4.6% to 6956c.
  • ANZ Bank (ANZ) released their FY result yesterday. The cash profit figure came in slightly below expectations. Mixed response from brokers this morning. Comments range from OK, to solid to disappointing. ANZ up 2.8% to 2107c.
  • Transfield Services (TSE) has secured $130m in work with the defence industry. The contract has extension options of up to 3 years worth up to $75m. The one year extension is worth $40m to TSE which is up 3.5% today to 238c.
  • Qantas Airways (QAN) has agreed with the ACCC that it should compensate passengers for all reasonable losses incurred as a result of the grounding. CEO Alan Joyce also said they will always call Australia home despite outsourcing jobs overseas. QAN up 2.5%.
  • Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is reported to have shut down its proprietary trading desk as they work to reduce risk-taking across their markets business. CBA up 84¢ to 4885¢.
  • An international subsidiary of Telstra (TLS) has been granted licences for long-distance telephone and internet services. They plan to set up services in 7 Indian cities aimed at the multinational corporate market.
  • Last day to buy Westpac (WBC) before it goes ex dividend 80c on Monday. Macquarie also goes Ex on Monday 65c. ANZ and NAB go Ex next Thursday 76c and 88c.

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