Strong leads from US and Europe followed decisive progress in Greek debt talks and the local market rebounded, pushing 1.7 per cent higher by midday.
Debate is raging today about whether the deal that was offered to Greece is a good one; more will be revealed by Wednesday when the Greek Parliament is due to vote on the offer.
Locally it was the miners that led the way today with BHP surging ahead.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 95 points up at 5,568. On the futures market the SPI is 109 points higher.
Looking at economic news: And National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB): has released its Business survey for June showing confidence has improved from +8 to +10 to shrug off global instability. And business conditions grew by 5 points to +11.
Company news
Regis Resources Limited
(ASX:RRL) has signed an agreement for an exploration joint venture with Duketon Mining Limited
(ASX:DKM). The deal relates to four of DKM’s exploration licences which are in proximity to some of Regis’ Duketon tenure. The company will pay $100,000 to Duketon upfront and then it will spend $1 million on gold exploration over a two year period to earn a 75 per cent interest in any mining project that is confirmed by a Regis decision to mine. Shares in Regis are trading down 0.88 per cent at $1.13
Shares in Sedgman Limited
(ASX:SDM) have jumped on news it expects net profit to be in the range of $16 to $17 million in FY15. The mining project management company says the profit rebound was led by a disciplined focus on cost control and strong performance of both the projects and operations businesses. Shares in Sedgman are trading up 15.56 per cent at $0.78.
Best and worst performers All major sectors were higher today, the best performing sector is materials, gaining 2.6 per cent to 8,722. Shares in Sandfire Resources
(ASX:SFR) have risen 11.59 per cent and trading at $6.26. Shares in Iluka Resources Limited
(ASX:ILU) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited
(ASX:FMG) are also stronger.
The sector with the least gains is industrials, up 0.95 per cent to 4,725. Shares in Bradken Limited
(ASX:BKN) have fallen 5.83 per cent, trading at $1.05. Shares in SAI Global Limited
(ASX:SAI) and ALS Limited
(ASX:ALQ) are also lower.
IPO Medlab Clinical Limited
(ASX:MDC) started trading today. The early phase drug development company floated with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.205 and is currently trading at $0.205.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,156 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7416.
