The market is down 20. The SFE Futures were down 18 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 31 overnight. Dow was up 115 at one stage. S&P 500 index hit its highest level since May and registered its fourth consecutive rise. Existing home sales were better than expected up 10% in September. The US dollar continued to slide on a weak statement from the G20 and the absence of a concrete plan to support the US$. Metals up as the US$ fell – Copper up 2.6% and has now reached levels not seen since July 2008.

  • Commonwealth Bank (CBA) held its AGM today. Says the operating environment remains challenging. There has been a gradual improvement in credit quality but is concerned about the overregulation of interest rates thanks to “the mistakes of others”. CBA down 17c to 5077c.
  • Bendigo & Adelaide Bank (BEN) announced plans to buy Elders’ (ELD) 40% stake in agribusiness lender Rural Bank. BEN down 7c to 905c and ELD is up 2.5c to 69c.
  • Coca-Cola Amatil (CCL) CEO Terry Davis says he won’t be buying Foster’s Group beer business because he “can’t make the numbers work”. They have provided guidance including EBIT growth of 7-8% for the 2nd half of 2010. CCL down 28c to 1234c.
  • Transurban (TCL) has finalised its contract with the NSW government for the $550m upgrade of the Hills M2 motorway in Sydney. TCL down 4c to 540c.
  • PanAust (PNA) — 3rd Q Production numbers — produced a record amount of copper and gold in the Sept Q and upped their FY guidance. PNA down 1c to 79c.
  • Oil Search (OSH) — 3rd Q Production Update — Production fell to 1.85m barrels of oil equivalent from 2.09m but revenue increased to $US142.2m thanks to a rising oil price. OSH down 2c to 650c.
  • Perpetual (PPT) says it expects 1st H underlying profit to come in at $35m-$40m if markets remain stable. They said KKR bid of between $38 — $40 a share undervalued the company. Brokers talking $42. PPT down 10c to 3780c.
  • Arafura Resources (ARU) — Trading Halt — Planning a capital raising. ARU last traded at 142c.
  • Resources Boom 2 — Access Economics says we are at the beginning of a resources boom that could be bigger than the last one.
  • Companies hitting fresh yearly highs include: ANG, BOL, COK, ILU and SGH.

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