The All Ordinaries hit an 18-month high this morning as it neared the 5000 mark for the first time since October 2008.
At lunchtime the All Ords was up 11 points or 0.23% at 4985 as a broad but modest rally nudged all sectors higher except property trusts. The miners were 0.2% higher and financials up 0.1%. The pick of the sectors were utilities +1.1%, IT +1% and gold +0.9%.
Macarthur Coal today rejected an improved takeover offer from Peabody, declaring the bid too low. The U.S. company improved its offer to $14 per share yesterday.
"The revised indicative proposal does not represent an adequate premium for control of the company," Macarthur said in a statement. "The highly conditional and uncertain nature of the revised indicative proposal means that the board of Macarthur can have no reasonable confidence of the proposal being ultimately put to shareholders as an offer."
Property company Mirvac launched a $500 million capital raising to help it acquire Westpac Office Trust. Mirvac aims to place $350 million in shares with institutions at $1.40 - a 5.4% discount to yesterday's closing price.
The services sector contracted for a third straight month in March, according to a survey released this morning. The AIG/Commonwealth Bank Performance of Services Index rose 0.1 point to a seasonally adjusted 48.4 points last month. Readings below 50 indicate contraction in activity. AIG chief executive Heather Ridout said the result underlined the "patchy nature" of the economic recovery.
Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.35% in morning trade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng returned from a holiday 1.38% stronger and Shanghai dipped 0.1%. Dow futures were recently at -5.
Oil and gold were little changed despite gains for the U.S. dollar this morning. Crude oil futures were 2 cents higher at $86.81 a barrel. The spot gold price was $1 stronger at $1,135.50 an ounce.
A profitable morning thanks to three trades in MMZ. Can't beat panic for quick profits - hope no one here was caught in the collapse. Bottled a bounce scalp in RCY and exited at break-even. Should have made money but there's a nasty stench coming off that one.
