The market is down 47. The SFE Futures were down 9 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 7 overnight. Dow up 72 at best and down 39 at worst. Both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 have failed to break February’s resistance levels. JP Morgan results were a bit better than expected but the stock closed down 0.7%. US President Obama dominated the headlines with a plan to cut the budget deficit by $4 trillion in 12 years. Metal prices fell again, the oil price put on 86c to $107.11 and the Gold price was up $2 at $1455.60. The Aussie dollar improved slightly overnight to 104.97c versus 104.56c yesterday.

Today’s main stories…

  • Bank of QLD (BOQ) announced a 1st half net profit of $50.4m, down 45% on last year in line with their profit warning in February. They saw a 162% increase in bad debts to $134.4m. CEO David Liddy said he was disappointed with the banks bad debt experience and will dedicate significant resources to manage it. He also announced he would not extend his contract when it expires. Revenue increased by 14% to $390.7m, they reiterated full year guidance and declared an interim dividend of 26c a share. BOQ up 1.5% to 992c.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) – is out of its trading halt and down 12.5% to 2475c first thing – They have completed their institutional entitlement offer raising $514m in a 1 for 9 entitlement issue at 2250c. The small shortfall bookbuild was cleared at 2450c a share. The $243m retail component of the capital raising will open on 19th April and close on 6th May. The booklet will be sent out on 19th April.
  • Oz Minerals (OZL) said copper production totaled 25,708 tons in the 1st Q quarter at an average cash cost of 70.3USc per pound…higher than the 60c expected on the back of moves in the currency. Gold production came to 41,911 troy ounces. The company described the results as ‘steady’. The whole copper sector was a bit pumped up recently post the Equinox bid. OZL down 3.7% to 153c.
  • Rio Tinto (RIO) fell 0.7% yesterday post their rain affected quarterly production numbers. They are down 0.9% today. On a side issue they have been asked to supplu all 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals that will be handed out at the London Olympic and Paralympic games. RIO down 0.9% to 8480c.
  • Molopo Energy (MPO) said they will announce their new strategy going forward on Monday. MPO unchanged at 83.5c.
  • Galaxy Resources (GXY) completed their $120m capita raising. GXY down 7% to 126.5c.
  • Cerro Resources (CJO) have released a feasibility study on a 4.5mt heap leach gold/silver project with 1.6m ounces of gold. 8 yr mine life which could be extended to 15yrs. One of the few silver stocks in the market. Patersons has a Speculative Buy recommendation this morning. CJO down 0.5c to 33c.
  • Chinese GDP, CPI and PPI numbers will be announced tomorrow. They are seen as a pivotal to the market trend and likely to extend or halt the current resources sell off.

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