The market is up 12. The SFE Futures were up 7 this morning.

Dow Jones up 32. The Dow was up 43 at best and down 51 at worst. US markets all finished up on light volumes. Energy sector helped by a higher oil price. The US Conference Board consumer conference index came in at a five month low for June and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index was down to an 8 month low. Metals on the LME were mostly lower with Copper up 0.39%, Zinc down 1.55%, Lead down 1.20% and Aluminium down 1.09%. Oil is up 26c to $79.47. Gold is down $15.60 to $1572.80. BHP and RIO ADRs are both up 0.60% and 1.52%. The A$ is at 100.60. News Corp up 8.28% on talk of the company splitting into 2 listed companies.

Main points:

  • Boral has had a profit warning – NPAT guidance for the year down from $150-175m to $100-110m. This adds to a PPX profit warning yesterday — it is the 33rd profit warning ahead of this results season. BLD is down 3.76% to 307c.
  • News Corp (NWS) — Rupert Murdoch has outlined plans to demerge the company’s film studios & cable TV assets from the newspapers business into two separate public listed companies – designed to release value — NWS up 8.3% in the US. NWS is up 3.32% to 2148c.
  • Crown Ltd (CWN) — James Packer has entered into a JV with Philippines’ Henry Sy Jr (son of the richest man in Philippines) to build a $1bn+ casino and resort in Manila. CWN is down 0.58% to 853c.
  • Seven West Media (SWM) – closed down 13.7% yesterday after announcing Don Voelte as their new CEO. There are rumours of a $500m capital raising and a deck clearing profit warning. The stock fell 13% yesterday. SWM is up 2.94% to 175c.
  • Cardno (CDD) — Profit upgrade — CDD expects to report a profit of between $71m-$74m which is an increase of 21%-26% from last year. CDD is up 0.68% to 743c.
  • Echo Entertainment (EGP) will hold a meeting with Genting’s Mr KT Lim after Genting applied to increase their stake beyond 10%. EGP is up 0.72% to 421c.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) has purchased 4 new exploration licences in the Olympic Dam region for $3m. BHP is currently undergoing an expansion of their copper, gold and uranium mining operations at Olympic Dam. BHP is down 0.1% to 3060c.
  • Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) – The press debates Andrew Forrest’s $62m FMG share purchase on Monday and another $108m purchase yesterday. The press suggests he is ‘thumbing his nose’ at short sellers. FMG unchanged.
  • Acrux (ACR) has been granted approval for the commercial use of Recuvyra, a post-operative pain drug used for dogs. ACR will receive a milestone payment of $1m and royalties from sales. ACR is down 0.48% to 418c.
  • Western Desert (WDR) has secured $85m through a capital raising for the Roper Bar project in NT. WDR is up 6.54% to 81.5c.
  • Orocobre (ORE) in a trading halt – thought to be the Argentinean green Light for the Olaroz project.

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