Another positive day for our market – we are up 33. The SFE Futures were up 35 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 102 overnight. The Dow was up 106 at best and down 3 at worst. Better than expected home sales helped the market along. The Dow has finished in positive territory in 15 of the last 18 sessions. Metals were mixed, Nickel up 1%, Gold closed up $6.30 to $1105.80 and the Aussie dollar increased to 91.90c from 90.81c.

In other news today…

  • Rio Tinto (RIO) says their iron ore JV with BHP Billiton may not be finalized until later this year due to “complex and demanding” regulatory issues. The JV was expected to be completed in the middle of this year. RIO up 1.8% to 7713c.
  • Transurban (TCL) down 5.8% to 485c on news that the Future Fund has terminated talks with bidders Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to join their bid. Talk is that with the Future Fund walking away, a takeover of TCL is unlikely to occur.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) has declared force majeure on coking coal shipments from the Hay Point terminal in QLD as a result of damage caused by Cyclone Ului. BHP up 47c to 4353c.
  • Computershare (CPU) up 16c to 1259c after receiving a positive response from brokers this morning post their Investor Briefing yesterday.
  • Telstra (TLS) – Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has told reporters that he expects talks between the government and TLS not to extend after June or July. In other words, the upcoming election.  TLS down 2c to 310c.
  • Lend Lease (LLC) has been appointed as the managing contractor for the early works on the $363m first stage of Melbourne Park, where the Australian Open tennis tournament is held. LLC down 8c to 874c.
  • Transfield Services (TSE) has won a 5yr $US27.7m roads and asset management contract with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. TSE down 5c to 404c.
  • Skilled Group (SKE) says their chief operating officer John Dixon has resigned.  SKE down 1.5c to 176c.
  • Wesfarmers (WES) says former Alcoa of Australia MD and Chairman Wayne Osborn is a new director. WES up 2c to 3196c.
  • Orica (ORI) will make charges of $63m to their 1H accounts for the expected costs of remediation of contamination at its Botany site in NSW. ORI down 13c to 2627c.
  • Companies hitting fresh 52 week highs today include: ANZ Bank (ANZ), ARB Corp (ARP), Ausdrill (ASL), Cochlear (COH) and Westpac Bank (WBC).

The Dow Futures were down 1 at midday.

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