Morning Market Report

The Market is up 22. Dow Jones up 54. SFE Futures were up 16 this morning.

The Dow was up 63 at best and down 4 at worst. US markets opened up for the first session this week on news of some big M&A activity on Wall St and solid economic sentiment numbers out of Europe.

Best sectors  — energy (+1.2%), consumer goods (+0.9%), utilities (+0.9%), industrials (+0.9%). Worst sectors  — basic materials (-0.3%).  US 10-year bond yield was up 2pts to 2.02%.

European market up  — UK FTSE up 0.96%, German DAX up 1.62%, France up 1.88%, Spain up 1.44% Italy up 1.57%.

• BHP Billiton (BHP) — Net profit of $US5.7 billion down 43% and in line with a consensus $US5.69 billion. Interim dividend 57c. CEO Marius Kloppers steps down as CEO — market happy with the new internal replacement. BHP is down 0.59% to 3877c.
• Woodside Petroleum (WPL) — NPAT of $2.061 billion which was in line with a consensus forecast of $2.10 billion. WPL is up 2.66% to 3892c.
• Fletcher Building (FBU) — NPAT up 1% to $NZ146 million and below a consensus of $NZ147 million. FBU is down 4.11% to 723c.
• Aurizon Holdings (AZJ) — Underlying net profit of $222 million which was below an expected $258.7 million. Interim div of 4.1c. Expects FY13 coal volumes of 192-195 tonnes. AZJ is down 6.29% to 394.5c.
• Breville Group (BRG) – Net profit of $31.7 down 7.8% and slightly below a forecast of $33.2 million but the share price is getting nailed on a couple of things including the outlook statement which implies a full year profit of $75-78 million against forecasts of $81 million and a warning about a significant loss of commission revenue being likely on a distribution contract re-negotiation. BRG is down 20.22% to 576c.
• Fantastic Holdings (FAN) — NPAT of $13.2 million up 2.2%. Increase in interim dividend up — 7.50c. FAN is down 7.46% to 335c.
• IRESS (IRE) – Underlying Profit of $54.4 million down 9% but above an expected $48.4 million. IRE is down 3.46% to 810c.
• SMS Management & Tech (SMX) — NPAT of $12.9 million down 15% but above a forecast of $11.9 million. SMX is up 3.25% to 509c.
• Super Retail Group (SUL) — NPAT up 73.6% to $60.6 million and slightly below an expected $62.2 million. SUL is up 1.32% to 1078c.
• Suncorp Grp (SUN) — NPAT of $574 million up from $389 million and above a forecast of $539 million. Headline OK (Interim profit up 58% to $574 million) but general insurance contributed $564 million out of $574 million suggesting the banking side of the business performed badly. Dividend up 25% to 25c. SUN is down 3.77% to 1122.5c.
• ARB Corporation (ARP) — NPAT up 14.5% to $20.9 million. Interim dividend of 12.5c. ARP is down 1.29% to 1227c.
• Seek (SEK) — NPAT of $67.5 million up 11.5% and above an expected $64.8 million. Interim dividend of 10c. SEK is up 6.39% to 933c.
• Toll Holdings (TOL) — Net profit of $192 million up from $158 million and above an expected $159.1 million. Revenue up 2.5% to $4.5bn. Interim dividend up to 12.5c. TOL is up 4.35% to 587.5c.
• APA Group (APA) — 1H Net Profit of $98 million above an expected $71 million. Distribution of 17c. APA is down 0.34% to 584c.
• Atlas Iron (AGO) — Has announced a non-cash impairment of $258 million, net of deferred MRRT and income tax in its accounts for the six months to December 31 2012. AGO is down 1.98% to 173c.

Categories: Markets, Morning Market Report