The market is up 34. The SFE Futures were up 31 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 72 overnight. It was up 96 at best and down 13 at worst and had its biggest three day gain since March. Greece’s parliament approved a new austerity plan which makes way for further bailout funds. A vote on the implementation of the plan is due tonight. The IMF warned that the US debt burden is unsustainable. Visa and Mastercard both put on over 11% after the Fed moved to cap debit-card transaction fees. Oil up $1.88 to $94.77; Gold up $10.20 to $1510.14 and the Aussie dollar improved to 106.73c.

In the news today…

  • Insurance Australia Group (IAG) announced this morning that the net claim cost for the aftershocks in Christchurch, NZ two weeks ago will be a maximum of $65m. IAG down 1c to 337c.
  • Campbell Brothers (CPB) has acquired Stewart Group, a provider of geochemical, metallurgical and inspection services to the mining and processing industry, for an enterprise value of around $222m. The deal will be funded by debt. CPB up 3.6% to 4575c.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) announces Peabody Energy has agreed to buy Thiess’ 5% JV interest in the Burton Coal Mine for $35m. LEI up 2.8% to 2058c.
  • Newcrest Mining (NCM) is looking for a new CFO after Greg Robinson said he would take over as the company’s CEO from July 1. NCM up 14c to 3724c.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) has agreed to sell their 50% interest in the Hong Kong Interlink project to Canadian Pension Plan Investment board for $274m. GMG up 0.5c to 70.5c.
  • CSR Ltd (CSR) said they’re currently assessing “a number of bolt-on” acquisition opportunities valued in the range of $25m-$100m. CSR unchanged at 287c.
  • Minara Resources (MRE) has reduced production at their Murrin nickel processing plant after the failure of a heat exchanger. MRE down 3c to 71.5c.
  • Lynas Corp (LYC) have entered a trading halt, pending an announcement about the company’s proposed processing plant in Malaysia. LYC last traded at 198c.
  • CSL Ltd (CSL) up 3% first thing after being upgraded by GSJB Were this morning. They said due to recent share price depreciation, it was time for investors to buy it.
  • ANZ Bank (ANZ) has released a shareholder update. Up 7c to 2167c.
  • Australian Job vacancies fell 4.5% in seasonally adjusted terms during the 3 month period ended March 2011.

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