Smiling whilst reading:)From the Australian:On the Sydney...

Smiling whilst reading:)

From the Australian:

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index futures contract was 77 points higher at 4021, on 27,825 contracts, according to preliminary calculations.

IG Markets research analyst Ben Potter said there was plenty of interest in junior iron ore miners following the collapse of the planned $US19.5 billion ($24.3bn) investment tie-up between Rio Tinto and Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) and the proposal between Rio and BHP Billiton to combine key iron ore operations.

“There are a lot of re-ratings on base-metal players based on this BHP deal (with Rio),” Mr Potter said.

“You're also seeing all these smaller iron ore miners really becoming targets for the Chinese because the Chinalco deal has fallen through and China wants to secure some long-term iron ore pricing power.”

In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton gained $1.20 (3.29 per cent) to $37.70 as the company said settlements reached for most of its 2009 metallurgical coal contracts were for prices about 58 per cent lower than last year.