The market is up 1. The SFE Futures were down 2 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 9. The Dow was up 68 at best and down 25 at worst. The market finished up 0.6% for the week. The market saw some relief from an EU agreement to call on the IMF and provide bilateral loans to Greece if necessary. Metals mostly up, oil price finished slightly higher — up 6c to $80.06 — and Gold added $8 to $1100. The Aussie dollar fell to 90.63c compared to 90.76c.

Four day week ahead — the markets are shut on Friday and next Monday for the Easter break.

In other news today:

  • The front page of the AFR was on the money, Telstra (TLS) has announced a reshuffle of their executive team. Some of the changes include Gordon Ballantyne appointed as group MD for TLS Consumer and Channels, Kate McKenzie will take on the newly created position of chief marketing officer. TLS up 1c to 307c. Concerns that they could be cut out of the NBN have dulled the recent rally.
  • Bank of QLD (BOQ) are in exclusive due diligence for the potential purchase of CIT Group’s Australian and New Zealand vendor finance operations. They have described the due diligence as “significantly progressed”. BOQ up 5c to 1182c.
  • Macarthur Coal (MCC) has lifted a declaration of force majeure on coal shipments as the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal reopens after Cyclone Ului. MCC unchanged at 1170c.
  • Talk of Newcrest (NCM) making an acquisition in Africa after MD Ian Smith said they are looking at a few opportunities in the region, one of them at “great depth”. Rumours of NCM being bid for have subsided as one broker says most major gold players would find it difficult to find capital to fund a full cash offer. NCM have a $15.8bn market cap. NCM up 30c to 3324c.
  • Seven Network (SEV) has appointed executive search firm Egon Zehnder International to act as an independent adviser on putting together its board of directors under its merger and restructure proposal. SEV up 2.3% to 760c.
  • ASX Ltd (ASX) remains optimistic about their growth prospects for the rest of the year based on 2H activity. They will report their result for the year on August 19. The stock is down 2.47% in the past month compared to the 5.8% rise in the ASX 200. ASX down 35c to 3525c.
  • PanAust (PNA) will proceed with the development of the US$134m Ban Houayxai gold and silver project in Laos. PNA up 1c to 51.5c.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) has sold the South Tower of their corporate headquarters in Brisbane for $94m. LEI down 35c to 3882c.
  • Both News Corp (NWS) and Westpac Bank (WBC) have hit fresh 52 week highs today.
  • The Dow Futures were up 18 at midday.

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