The market is up 45. The SFE Futures were up 11 this morning but up 40 from Thursday.

Wall St. closed up 46 overnight and up 70 on Thursday night. Up 116 in two days. The Dow was up 61 at best and down 3 at worst overnight. The energy sector led the rally. Jobs numbers on Friday were a bit below expectations but saw the biggest jump in job numbers in 3 years. Metals up on the LME. The Oil price has put on $3.25 since Thursday and Gold has rallied $28 to $1133 in two days of trade. The Aussie dollar at 92.13c versus 91.72c on Thursday. We have the US FOMC Minutes tonight.

In the news today…

  • RBA Meeting today. Economists undecided on whether they will raise rates. Perhaps the most logical comment is that Glen Stevens would hardly go on prime time TV last week warning about a bubble in house prices and then not back it up with an interest rate rise. The markets suggest a slightly higher than 50/50 chance of a rise of 25bp to 4.25%.
  • Lots of activity in the iron ore sector. Vale negotiates 100% plus rises in iron ore prices. RIO has followed BHP in asking their iron ore customers to sign quarterly pricing contracts rather than annual. RIO have also signed a non binding MOU with Chinalco to develop the US$12bn Simandou iron ore prospect in West Africa. It is a 2.25bn ton resource capable of producing 70m tpa with first production unlikely until at least 2013. RIO up 1.6% today to 8085c.
  • The ACCC have again demanded more information from BHP and RIO regarding their iron ore JV. The regulator has pushed out their investigation by another month until late May. BHP up 89c or 2.05% to 4485c.
  • GPT Group (GPT) up 0.5c to 59c – they have bought a 50% stake in a Sydney office block development for $333m from Grocon Developments.
  • Infigen Energy (IFN) have sold their French wind farms to a fund managed by Platina Partners for EUR71.3m and decided against selling their German assets. IFN unchanged at 127c.
  • Gold and Nickel stocks flying again today. Western Areas (WSA) up 4.4%, Mirabela Nickel (MBN) up 7%, Panoramic Resources (PAN) up 3.2%. Andean Resources (AND) is the big mover in the gold space, up 10.7% to 311c.
  • Lend Lease Group (LLC) will set up a 50/50 JV with London Continental Railways as part of a deal for the regeneration of land holdings at Stratford City in London. LLC down 2c to 866c.
  • Total job advertisements increased 1.8% in March contributing to an 8% annual rise. Internet jobs where up 2% and down 1.8% in newspapers.

Stocks hitting a fresh yearly high today include: BHP Billiton (BHP), Centennial Coal (CEY), OneSteel (OST), Rio Tinto (RIO) and Seek (SEK).

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