The market is up 8. The SFE Futures were up 23 this morning.

Wall St closed up 1 overnight. It was a quiet session with little movement. The Dow was up 54 at best and down 29 at worst. Metals struggled in London and the Gold price failed to recovery falling another $5.50 to $1164.00. The oil price also fell 66c to $74.81. The Aussie dollar struggled, falling to 91.24c from 91.42c.

Quiet day on the news front…

  • ANZ Bank (ANZ) announces the acquisition of AWB’s Landmark Financial Services loan and deposit books. The size of the loan book is approx. $2.4bn and the deposit book is around $300m. ANZ down 5c to 2190c and AWB up 3% to 121.5c.
  • Street Talk suggests AMP Ltd (AMP) is likely to launch an improved bid for AXA Asia Pacific (AXA) before Christmas. AMO down 1c to 615c and AXA down 12c to 572c.
  • Asciano Group (AIO) has signed a 10 year coal haulage contract with Isaac Plains, a JV between Aquila Resources (AQA) and Vale. UBS upped its target price on AIO this morning to $2 from 180c and maintain their BUY recommendation. AIO up 3.86% to 175c, AQA down 10c to 896c.
  • Babcock & Brown Power (BBP) has cut ties with failed parent company Babcock & Brown. It agreed to settle around $444m in debts and fees and terminated the management and advisory agreements with it. It will be completely free once its banks agree to a restructure of its debt. At 7.6c a share, BBP has a market cap of $55.2m and total liabilities of $3.46bn and $2.96bn in borrowing. BBP unchanged at 7.6c.
  • CSL Ltd (CSL) has made several management changes. Brian McNamee will remain as CEO but Gordon Naylor will become CFO in October 2010. CSL up 11c to 3137c.
  • ING Industrial Fund (IIF) has completed its capital raising. IIF down 0.5c to 43.5c.
  • Australian business confidence has reached a 7 year high in November and Australia reported a seasonally adjusted current account deficit of $16.183bn in September quarter, from a revised deficit of $13.133bn in the June Q.
  • The ACCC has commenced an informal review of the RIO/BHP Iron Ore JV. It will not make a public comment until January 15 next year. BHP up 43c to 4104c and RIO up 34c to 7193c.
  • Mirabela Nickel (MBN) up 4c to 249c – it has completed the commissioning of its Santa Rita nickel plant in Brazil and is on track to meet guidance.

The Dow Futures were up 18 at midday.