The market is up 54. Another strong day. The SFE Futures were up 50 this morning.

Wall St. had another strong session. Dow Jones closed up 120 overnight. Up 183 at best and down 20 at worst. Metals had a good night on the LME and both Oil and Gold went up. The Aussie dollar up to 83.33c compared to 82.95c. The FOMC left rates at 0-0.25% with the general impression being that they envisage an end to the recession (sometime).

Telstra (TLS) — RESULTS: A bit better than expected despite the share price being down 10c to 351c initially on comments that a “BT style” separation of its wholesale and retail division which would take 5 years to implement. Net profit of $4.07bn was slightly ahead of consensus of $3.82bn. Ex dividend 14c on 24 August. Now 359c down 2c.

In the news today…

  • Coca-Cola (CCL) has reported a $189.9m profit, up 10.4% on last year and slightly above market expectations. It expects to achieve “high single digit growth” in the 2H. CCL up 6c.
  • Arrow Energy (AOE) has responded to bid rumours in AFR today saying it hasn’t received a takeover offer, but has held talks regarding an offer and is not aware if any offer will be made. It also announced a FY pretax profit of around $540m in expected. AOE up 5%. Up 6% yesterday.
  • Mirvac Group (MGR) has responded to recent media speculation by announcing it has had preliminary discussions with the board of Mirvac REIT management Ltd in relation to a potential offer for Mirvac Real Estate Investment Trust. MGR up 1.6%.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) announces its Thiess Services unit in partnership with others have won a $380m, 4 year capital works contract with Melbourne’s South East Water. LEI up 2.2%.
  • Biota Holdings (BTA) has agreed to return $20m in cash (11c a share) to its shareholders after reviewing its cash position. The record date for the payment will be November 19, subject to shareholder approval at its AGM on November 12. Up 2%.
  • Santos (STO) says it has struck gas in the Browne Basin offshore in WA. The Burnside-1ST1 exploration well in permit WA-281-P has struck a 65 metre gross gas column in the primary target. STO up 2.5% to 1472c.
  • PanAust (PNA) said that Guangdong Rising Assets Management has received approval from the Chinese government for its planned investment of around $216m in PNA.
  • Centennial Coal (CEY) is confidence it will have sufficient port capacity for its exports despite a court saying it must make capacity available to Xstrata at the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group development.
  • Sino Gold (SGX) says it has entered into an option agreement to buy the Caijiagou Gold project in China.
  • ROC Oil (ROC) has completed its share purchase plan — raised $26.2m at 71c a share.
  • Mirvac Group (MGR) has had talks about a potential Mirvac REIT offer.
  • Biota (BTA) is returning $20m in cash to its shareholders.

Also in the news…

  • Lots of broker comments on BHP Billiton and Commonwealth after both announced their results yesterday. Although the overall recommendations didn’t change, the majority of brokers upped their target prices on both stocks.
  • Nineteen stocks have hit a fresh yearly high today. Some of the notables include: Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Computershare (CPU), Domino Pizza (DMP), Liquefied Natural (LNG), Mitchell Communications (MCU), Premier Investments (PMV) and Webjet (WEB).

The Dow Futures are up 22 at midday.

MARCUS PADLEY is the Author of the MARCUS TODAY Daily Stockmarket Newsletter.

For a free 5 day obligation free trial of the MARCUS TODAY newsletter (and no we won’t ask for a credit card number) click here or go to www.marcustoday.com.au

You will receive two daily emails about the stockmarket, our MORNING EMAIL with all the stuff you need to know ahead of the trading day ahead and a DAILY EMAIL with all the midday events, news, comments and ideas from Marcus and his Team. You will also be given a password to the MARCUS TODAY website including access to all the emails as well as Educational, Entertaining and Researched Articles from Marcus and his Team and an archive where you can catch up on a whole week or month in just a few minutes. Or Browse at length. We are sure you will enjoy and profit from what we offer. Find out now. GET STARTED and hopefully one day we will Welcome you onto the Membership List. We have one of the highest re-subscription rates in the financial newsletter industry. Thousands of subscribers enjoy and profit from our services every day.