The market is up 20. The SFE Futures were up 38 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 150 overnight. Dow was up 160 at best. The S&P 500 is now up 17% from its 2010 low on July 2. Economic data overnight was mixed. Initial jobless claims fell to lows not seen since 2008 but new home sales took a turn for the worst and durable goods were below expectations. Metals were mostly up, the oil price was the big mover — up $2.61 at $83.86 and gold fell $4.60 to $1373. The Aussie dollar stands at 98.11c compared to 97.29c yesterday morning.

Today’s main points … pretty quiet – Wall St closed tonight and half of Friday.

  • Goodman Fielder (GFF) reiterated their guidance this morning for net profit growth of “mid to high single percentage” range for 2010/11. GFF down 2c to 138c.
  • GrainCorp (GNC) announced a FY net profit of $80.2m, up 27%. Revenue was up 20% to $2bn. Declared a final dividend of 10c, up from 7.3c and a 5c special dividend. GNC up 1.5% to 785c.
  • Gunns (GNS) has held its AGM today. Says it intends to hold a minimum of 51% of Southern Star Corp equity and remains engaged with a numbers of parties regarding Bell Bay equity financing. GNS unchanged at 66c.
  • MEO Australia (MEO) has successfully completed its share placement raising $32.6m at 52c a share. Cash reserves have now increased to $100m. MEO down 6.8% to 54.5c.
  • Nexus Energy (NXS) announced that Royal Dutch Shell has granted it an option for a 3 year extension of the gas rights handover for the Crux liquids project in WA to the end of 2013. NXS down 2c to 50.5c.
  • New York based hedge fund Scout Capital has emerged as one of QR National’s (QRN) top investors, having acquired 5.1%. QRN continuing to perform well — up 4c to 274c.
  • Lynas Corp (LYC) has formed a partnership with Japanese trading house Sojitz Corp that will secure up to $US250m in funding. LYC up 7% to 164.5c.
  • Beach Energy (BPT) has signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Japan’s Itochu to investigate construction of a small-scale gas export facility in SA. BPT up 2.2% to 67c.
  • Crown (CWN) says David Gyngell had to resign as a director due to his work commitments with his role at PBL Media. CWN up 17c to 838c.
  • Stocks hitting 52 week lows include Country Road (CTY), Henderson Group (HGG) and PaperlinX (PPX).

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