The ASX 200 is up 5. The SFE Futures were down 10 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 1 overnight. It closed up 69 on Friday. The Dow is now up in 12 of the last 13 sessions. It was up 54 at best and down 17 at worst. Financials underperformed on the US government saying they will sell 7bn Citibank shares and Greece’s debt issues continue to worry markets. Oil up 60c to $83.82, Gold up 30c to $1154 and the Aussie dollar up to 92.76c from 92.59c.

In the news today…

  • PPI numbers just announced are up a higher than expected 1.0% feeding the chances of an interest rate rise next week from the RBA.
  • Super Cheap Auto (SUL) in a Trading Halt. Last traded at 507c. They will pay $54m for Ray’s Outdoors with the deal funded via a capital raising at 480c.
  • Bank of QLD (BOQ) announced the acquisition of CIT Group Inc’s Australian and NZ businesses. BOQ up 2c to 1277c.
  • Nexus Energy (NXS) says they will cease production at their Longtom gas facility after Santos (their customer) found low levels of mercury in the gas. Together with Santos, they will “commence the scope of work” to install mercury guard beds in the next two months at a cost of around $2m. STO up 17c to 1400c today and NXS down 3c to 29.5c.
  • Centro Properties (CNP) received a speeding ticket this morning from the ASX. They have raised their FY operating profit forecasts. They now expect FY profit to fall by 25-35% compared to a previous fall of 45%. The stock has hit a yearly high today of 27c before easing 1c to 25c.
  • Centennial Coal (CEY) – Quarterly Production Numbers – 3rd Q coal production came in at 3.2m tons. They expect a 10% increase in exports in 2010 and are set to expand exports further in 2011. CEY up 4c to 456c. The stock is up 11.46% in the past month.
  • Nufarm (NUF) has completed the institutional component of their $250m capital raising. NUF up 5c to 717c.
  • Molopo Energy (MPO) has announced that their subsidiary Highland Exploration and Production has signed a gas sales agreement with Novo Energy. MPO up 2c to 131c.
  • Peabody says they will focus on Macarthur Coal’s (MCC) development projects when they undertake their due diligence. MCC down slightly today to 1614c.
  • BlueScope Steel (BSL) is strongly against the BHP-RIO Iron Ore JV and has lodged a submission with the ACCC. BSL is Australia’s main buyer of iron ore. BSL up 2c to 280c.
  • Companies hitting 52 week high: Centro Retail Group (CNP), Charter Hall Group (CHC), Goodman Group (GMG)

Dow Futures up 13 at midday.

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