Good morning,

The markets seemed to take the news ,of Greece accepting new austerity measures, in its stride..modest gains across the board…we have waited so long for this that everything that needs to be said has been said! Let’s move on.

News from TLS was somewhat disappointing yesterday as far as the share price goes as there was no capital management initiatives…this is hardly surprising given the ACCC has yet to agree to the separation of the businesses at TLS..when this happens and it will TLS will be free to announce capital management initiatives. I remain a fan of this business as we continue our addiction to smartphones and ipads! Problems with Vodafone also help these boys!

RIO reported last night ,and despite the write down of its Alcan purchase back in 2008, the number looks pretty good..the CEO has also forgone his bonus as he was responsible for the acquisition of Alcan..so good on him! The strength is in Iron Ore and the company upping its dividend is testament to its confidence in this business…

Record underlying CY11 earnings of US$15.5b (pcp US$14.0b), around 2% ahead of consensus. A huge re-base in the full year progressive dividend to US$1.45ps, up 34% from the CY10 level. Net asset impairments of US$9.3b post-tax (US$8.9b in Aluminium).

This one makes BHP look a little stingy and will outperform its bigger rival..Buy RIO on any price falls…BHP has issues with the Petrohawk buy and may underwhelm for a little while….

NCM has reported this morning a 17 per cent rise in first-half profit, buoyed by surging gold prices and maintained its trimmed guidance for gold output through June.

Underlying profit rose to $611 million for July-December from $523 million a year ago.

Newcrest expects to produce 2.43-2.55 million ounces of gold in the year to June 2012, affected by production disruptions and lower ore grades.

Expect a modest bounce today with ANZ rate decision likely to prove interesting…now they act independently of the RBA and set rates by committee…may show how irrelevant the RBA is!

 Clarence

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