The market is up 14. The SFE Futures were up 9 this morning.

The ASX 200 closed at 4953.7 yesterday, an 18 month high and two points shy of its intraday high of 4955 in January. It has pushed above that high today breaking the top of a six month trading range.

Wall St. closed down 3 overnight. The Dow has closed up in six of the last seven sessions. The Dow was up 14 at best and down 46 at worst overnight. The FOMC minutes were released — they confirm interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time. Both oil and gold closed slightly higher, metals were mixed and the Aussie dollar was up to 92.75c from 92.13c helped by the RBA rate rise yesterday.

In the news today…

  • Macarthur Coal (MCC) has rejected the $3.56bn revised and improved bid from Peabody Energy. MCC will instead go ahead with their own takeover of Gloucester Coal (GCL) and associated transactions with Noble Group. MCC down 2.7% to 1469c.
  • Mirvac Group (MGR) – Trading Halt – The company is planning a fully underwritten institutional placement to raise $350m at 140c and is raising another $150m by offering eligible security holders the right to participate in an SPP. MGR wants to improve the look of their balance sheet and prepare for future acquisitions. MGR last traded at 148c.
  • Atlas Iron (AGO) speaks for the hole iron ore sector when they say they are experiencing strong iron ore demand and expect to achieve a 90% increase in iron ore prices from their customers. They also say the upgrade of their Pardoo direct shipping ore project has been completed and they are aiming to lift production to 2.4m from 1.2m tons a year. AGO up 9c to 285c. Up from 180c two months ago.
  • Incitec Pivot (IPL) is looking at developing an explosives plant on the Burrup Peninsula in WA. No timeline or budget for the project was provided. IPL down 4c to 342c.
  • Street Talk says Downer EDI (DOW) is currently speaking to several banks about their 49% equity stake in the Reliance Rail Finance consortium. DOW up 2c to 731c.
  • Talk that the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has asked domestic steelmakers to boycott iron ore produced by BHP, RIO and Vale for two months is written up as playing into the hands of smaller players although in reality it seems to be little more than bravdo. BHP is down 5c today to 4458c and RIO is up 50c to 8113c.
  • BHP Billiton has restarted loading their ships with coal at their Hay Point coal terminal in QLD, which was damaged by Cyclone Ului last month.
  • Australian Agricultural Co. (AAC) said Chairman Stephen Lonie will step down in the near term.
  • Stocks hitting a fresh yearly high today include: Computershare (CPU), Atlas Iron (AGO), Monadelphous (MND) and Rio Tinto (RIO).

The Dow Futures are down 17 at midday.

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