The market is up 17. The SFE Futures were up 49 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 109 overnight. The Dow was up 164 at best. It broke a three day losing streak on hopes for a solution to the Greek debt crisis. Tech stocks outperformed led by a 3.7% rise in Microsoft. Consumer spending in May was flat. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said that in order to prevent another financial crisis any banks deemed too big to fail must hold an additional 2.5% in capital…less than expected causing a rally in the bank sector. Metals were mixed, the oil price fell 55c to $90.61 and Gold dropped $4.50 to $1496.40. The Aussie dollar fell to 104.57c from 104.89c.

In the news today…slow day for news:

  • AMP Ltd (AMP) says the transaction costs of its merger with AXA APH Ltd will total $30m in the first half of calendar 2011. They said the M&A transaction costs are separate to the merger integration budget. AMP up 4c to 473c.
  • Tax loss selling – You have until the close of business on Thursday to execute any tax loss selling. See comments below.
  • Analysts are doubtful that Rio Tinto’s (RIO) $US10bn Simandou project in PNG will meet its 2015 deadline. The project includes plans for a 650km railway which is not likely to be completed by the deadline. But Rio says they will truck small amounts of iron ore out of the country in order to meet its commitment to the PNG government to ship its first iron ore by mid-2015. RIO up 53c to 8033c.
  • Moody’s says that SABMiller’s $9.5bn takeover offer of Foster’s group (FGL) would benefit both companies’ earnings and help them cut costs if a deal is completed. SABMiller said it will continue to pursue Foster’s after their offer was rejected last week for being too low. FGL down 2c to 518c.
  • Perpetual (PPT) up 2% to 2508c after experiencing heavy falls yesterday on talk their top stock picker was leaving the company. PPT announced this morning that John Sevior was a “50-50 chance to come back” to the company.
  • IMF (Australia) ltd (IMF) says the Federal Court decision against Centro will only help their class action. IMF up 1.3% to 156c.
  • Wah Nam International Holdings says it will allow its offer for FerrAus (FRS) to lapse following Atlas Iron’s (AGO) higher offer for the miner. AGO up 2.7% to 338c and FRS up 3.8% to 82c.
  • According to RBA’s Guy Debelle, Australian banks are likely to continue lowering their exposure to overseas funding markets.
  • Foster’s Group Bid – According to The Australian, SABMiller’s bidding team has left Australia and returned to London with both parties considering the ball to being in the other’s court. FGL holding up well today in a falling market – unchanged at 521c.
  • Stocks hitting 52-week lows today: AAC, AGG, ARH, CAH, CIF, CMJ, FPH, GWA, HIL, IVA, LEI, MEO, PAN, ROC, SHV, SPH.

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