The market is down 14. The SFE Futures were down 2 this morning.

Wall Street fell 19 overnight. First down day in 5. The Dow was up 31 at best and down 33 at worst. It was a quiet session, traded in a narrow range with low volumes. Metals were mostly down, oil price fell 57c to $80.07 and Gold lost $9 to $1113. The Aussie dollar hit 90c, down slightly from 90.01c yesterday morning.

Main results today:

  • Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) — results in line with its expectations — Announced an underlying net profit of $116.4m, in line with guidance but their outlook disappoints. They registered a FY net loss of $157.8m thanks to a $187.3m provision for its US convertible bonds litigation and other extraordinary activities.
  • Amcor (AMC) — ahead of expectations — 1H net profit (before significant items) came in at $172.5m, up 3% and ahead of the $160m analysts expected. An interim dividend of 12.5c (unfranked) was declared.
  • Sonic Healthcare (SHL) — in line with expectations — Announced a 1H net profit of $155.2m and $161.9m in constant currency terms.
  • Oil Search (OSH) — below expectations — Underlying FY net profit came in at $US99.6m compared to the $US111.4m analysts expected.

In other news…

  • SMS Management & Technology (SMX) announces the acquisition of Bright Blue Solutions. SMX down 2.02% to 632c.
  • Aquila Resources (AQA) says they are in dispute with JV partner Vale about infrastructure requirements for the Eagle Downs Hard Coking Coal project in QLD. AQA down 4.6% target price 975c as a result.
  • Street Talk says six bidders have been shortlisted for the sale of water infrastructure group United Utilities Australia. Amongst those bidders are UGL Ltd (UGL), Transfield Services (TSE) and Leighton Holdings (LEI).Stock hitting a fresh yearly high today include: Hills Industries (HIL), GUD Holdings (GUD), Snowball Group (SNO).

The Dow Futures down 8 at midday.

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