The market is up 14. The SFE Futures were up 1 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 12 on Friday. The Dow was up 33 at best and down 17 at worst. It was up 0.55% on the week. Retail sales numbers were better than expected but the consumer sentiment figure disappointed. There is an FOMC meeting this week – interest rates are likely to stay unchanged. Metals were mixed on the LME, Gold fell $1 to $1107 and oil fell $1.02 at $81.44.

In the news today…

  • Talk of Arrow Energy (AOE) rejecting the $3.3bn takeover offer from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina. AOE down 4c to 516c. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in a trading halt ahead of an announcement to sell Fisherman’s Landing project in QLD to AOE. LNG last traded at 51c.
  • Oil Search (OSH) announced they have secured the $US14bn they need to progress construction at their Papua New Guinea LNG project. OSH up 2c to 568c.
  • Molopo Energy (MPO) — Trading Halt — They are planning a capital raising involving retail and institutional investors to finance exploration and development. MPO last trading at 131c.
  • Metcash (MTS) has secured shareholder approval for their $55m investment in 50.1% of Mitre 10 with an option to buy the remaining stake in 2012 or 2013. MTS up 5c to 412c.
  • Transfield Services (TSE) partnership Dexter Construction has been named the preferred provider for the 30-year Canadian New Brunswick Highway contract. TSE up 5c to 417c.
  • ACCC announced on Friday they would delay their decision on the NAB/AMP takeover offers for AXA. They will release their finding on AMP’s proposal on April 1 and the NAB’s on April 22. They were going to release their decision this Wednesday. NAB up 0.3%, AMP down 0.3% and AXA up 1c to 632c.
  • Tatt’s Group (TTS) boss says they are interested in Tabcorp’s (TAH) wagering business. TTS up 2c to 247c and TAH up 4c to 684c.
  • Lending finance fell 1.6% in January to $26.33bn after seasonal adjustment.
  • NIB Holdings (NHF) down 0.5c to 123.5c — they expect FY10 net underlying profit to be between $45m-$50m and have excess capital of $156.3m.
  • Malcolm Edey — assistant governor at the RBA — says loan losses for Australian banks arising from the GFC have peaked and financial conditions are strong.

The Dow Futures down 5 at midday.

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