The market is down 20. The SFE Futures were up 5 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 39 overnight. Dow down 8 at best and down 163 at worst. The EU’s €85bn bailout has not eased fears in the euro zone markets. Major European indices were all down at least 2% as fears remain that Ireland solves nothing and that Portugal and Spain are next. The cost of insuring both Spanish and Portuguese bonds hit their highest ever overnight. An Italian bond auction saw weak demand. The Oil price put on another $1.97 to $85.73, Gold put on $3.60 to $1366 and the Aussie dollar fell slightly to 96.37c from 96.80c. Metals mostly down.

Today’s main points… not a lot of big movements.

  • Metcash (MTS) have had interim results. They are below expectations ($110m versus expectations for $117m). The Patersons analyst has downgraded his recommendation to a hold it looks like there’ll be some small (2%?) earnings downgrades tomorrow. MTS down 10c to 418c.
  • Nufarm (NUF) has refinanced its debt and now has a new $900m syndicated facility approved by 4 banks. The new facility, along with remaining facilities, will provide NUF with access to around $1.1bn of debt funding. NUF down 10c to 418c.
  • Incitec Pivot (IPL) is preparing to sell 5 year bonds to raise $500m to be used to repay the balance of the its $1.09bn bank loan maturing in October 2011. IPL down 5c to 376c.
  • Macarthur Coal (MCC) will delay the announcement of its fourth mine project until early 2011 from Dec 2010, when it finalises commercial terms. MCC up 4c to 1212c.
  • GPT Group (GPT) has secured new and extended bilateral bank loans totaling $600m, including an 8 year commitment. GPT down 1c to 279c.
  • Patersons have lifted their recommendation on Leighton Holdings (LEI) to Buy from Hold after it received a formal undertaking from ACS, the Spanish company bidding for LEI’s majority shareholder Hochtief. LEI down 11c to 3180c.
  • Credit Lyonnais estimates that the ASX Ltd — SGX merger has a 33% chance of going ahead. They anticipate investors having to wait until the end of January for a resolution. ASX down 1c to 3804c.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) told shareholders at its AGM that it is on track to deliver FY11 targets. GMG up 0.5c to 64c.
  • White Energy (WEC) has signed an option agreement with Cascade Coal to buy 2 coal deposits in NSW for $486m. WEC down 8c to 348c.
  • OM Holdings (OMH) has proposed a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Exchange. OMH down 1.5c to 138.5c.

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