The market is down 18. The SFE Futures were down 3 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 45 overnight, it was up 83 at best and down 19 at worst. The S&P 500 closed higher for a 2nd day, up 0.5%. Good session overnight for commodities. The oil price put on $5.37 to close above $100 a barrel again and Silver was up by over 5%. The Aussie dollar was up to $107.95c from $107.31c. European stocks struggled after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece’s debt rating and EU officials agreed to review the terms of the country’s bailout. The euro fell.

Today’s main stories…

  • Foster’s Group (FGL) has de-merged their wine business today which started trading at 12pm under the code TWE with deferred settlement. First price 321c. You get one TWE for 3 Foster’s Group shares. FGL closed at 548c last night so with FGL at 457c at midday today it is the equivalent of FGL trading at 564c … so shareholders are up 16c (2.9%) this morning. FGL also announced late yesterday that they had won a legal battle with the ATO. They will record a receivable of $256.7m (worth 36c a share).
  • OneSteel (OST) — Downgrades Guidance — Expects 2nd half profit to be broadly in line with the 1st half result of $116m, down from previous estimates of $270m. The downgraded guidance is blamed predictably on the strong Australian dollar, lower sales and margins and the impact of bad weather on iron ore shipments. OST down 5.16% to 202c.
  • The Australian reports that the Middle Eastern Leighton Holdings (LEI) joint venture, Al-Habtoor Leighton, has asked former CEO Wal King to join its board. King is said to have not yet made a decision. LEI down 1% to 2262c.
  • Nufarm (NUF) said major shareholder Sumitomo Chemical had increased its stake to 21.7% and plans to acquire up to 1.3% more. Sumitomo purchased 4.5m shares from Nufarm CEO Doug Rathbone at $5.28 each.  NUF up 7% to 510c.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) said it will spend US$323m to extend its Ekati diamond mine in Canada. Ore production is expected to begin in late 2015 and final production from the Misery open pit in mid-2017.
  • Positive response from brokers this morning following Incitec Pivot’s (IPL) profit result yesterday. Most suggest the recent fall in the share price represents a buying opportunity. IPL up 6c to 388c.
  • The AFR says Gloucester Coal (GCL) is about to announce the $600m acquisition of coal miner Donaldson Coal that will be funded by an equity raising. Citi is apparently going to assist them with the equity raising. GCL last traded 990c a share.
  • Trade numbers this morning register a $1.74bn surplus in March. Compares to an expectation of a $500m surplus.

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