An interesting day indeed.

Appropriate time of year, the Ides of March. Et tu Simon? News of the leadership spill in Canberra was enough to galvanise players off the sideline and pick up some bargain hunters especially in RIO Tinto (A$58.30, +1.4%) and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$3.91, +2.9%). Maybe the mining tax is going to go now. Banks were also firm with Westpac Banking (A$30.08, +0.5%) leading the way although the others were slightly more muted. Defensives were mixed today as Wesfarmers (A$40.30, -1.9%), Woolworths (A$33.73, -0.7%) fell but Telstra (A$4.54, unch) had another waltz in the sun with a small rise. In the resource space Newcrest Mining (A$21.96, -2.4%) was once again a loser, when isn’t it I hear you say, as were other Golds St Barbara (A$1.24, -2.4%), Kingsgate Consolidated (A$4.01, +0.5%) Beadell Resources (A$0.84, -2.9%) and Silver Lake Resources (A$2.13, -2.7%). Iron Ore stocks though were better with Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$3.91, +2.9%) improving as RIO Tinto (A$58.30, +1.4%) spurted away from a weaker start. The market did however seem completely undecided about whether it wants to go up or down. When I started writing this it was up 17 now it’s down slightly. Four days in a row. Up tomorrow for sure! No conviction and most players happy to wait to see what happens when the dust settles. Now we have the added fun of politics in the mix.

Sectors to attract the bargain hunters included Energy with Woodside Petroleum (A$37.02, +2.1%) and Origin Energy (A$13.01, +1.8%) better whilst Whitehaven Coal (A$2.25, -1.3%) continued to cause Nathan some sleepless nights. Healthcare was better with Mesoblast (A$6.20, +1.8%) positive as it was written up by one of our competitors today. Industrials were mixed with Brambles (A$8.22, -1.4%), Seek (A$9.92, -2.5%), and Seven Group (A$9.96, -2.1%) down whilst Telcos attracted more money today continuing a theme in the last few days as the sector is seen as chock full of M&A plus immune from the woes of the World perhaps. iiNet (A$5.07, +4.5%) positive whilst media stocks were mixed Seven West Media (A$2.27, +5.1%) Southern Cross Media Group (A$1.595, +2.9%).

Expiry day today on the futures market helped volumes and ensured fun and games for all. But most happy to sit out this dance as wallflowers.

Stocks in the News

Solly Lew’s golden boy ,Mark McInnes has showed why he is still the best man in retail after announcing a big jump in profits at Premier Investments (A$7.86, +2.1%). Closing branches, cutting rents. Not rocket science!

OrotonGroup (A$7.41, -2.4%) has reported a net profit of $16.4 million for the six months to January 26, a 2.1 per cent rise from the previous corresponding period, as group revenue lifted by 2.4 per cent. The fashion brand declared a fully franked interim dividend of 22 cents per share. But didn’t help the shares unfortunately.

The other big story today was the plunge in Billabong International (A$0.695, -14.2%) before being suspended at the company’s request as they don’t know what is going on. It would appear that with the bid deadline looming there are a few cold feet or maybe there are some serious leaks in the process and one or other has pulled out! We shall see in the next few days. Whatever happens $1.10 will be pretty hard to get to for anyone!

Sundance Resources (A$0.21, unch) chairman George Jones says it is ‘‘unlikely’’ Sichuan Hanlong would be able to meet a key financial deadline for its $1.3 billion takeover .Possibly the unluckiest company listed.

Following the UK budget and positive views on Shale in the UK AJ Lucas Group (A$1.35, -1.5%) slumped even after it signed a structured finance deal.

In house stocks today Clean Seas Tuna (A$0.019, -32.1%) had a tough day as it announced a rights issue, G8 Education (A$2.02, -3.3%) gave back some recent gains, REY Resources (A$0.062, +6.9%) perked up after our strong buy recommendation as did Universal Coal PLC (A$0.091, +5.8%). Boart Longyear (A$1.245, -3.5%) continued their dismal performance of late as did NRW (A$1.70, -3.4%) and Bradken (A$6.81, -2.4%).

Couple of numbers out of China today including this one, Net profits at China’s “big five” banks are expected to have risen nearly 12 per cent to more than 750 billion yuan in 2012, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday.

The preliminary reading of a Purchasing Managers’ Index was 51.7 in March, according to a statement from HSBC Holdings and Market Economics today.

Tomorrows Headlines Today

And just a note to Julia ,in 44 BC when Caesar was assassinated , Caesar passed the fortune teller on his way to the Theatre of Pompey and joked, “The ides of March have come,” meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the psychic replied “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.

It’s all now about Politics and whether we will have a new PM and then whether there will be an election straight after. I am going to put my neck and out and say no to both things. There probably wrong on at least one but we shall see after this is published!

The other issue is Cyprus and Plan B. In fact all will be well as Baldrick has come up with a cunning plan. A plan as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University .Don’t open the banks! Brilliant Baldrick!

Still the price of Iron Ore will be the talk of the markets. Or rather the downside potential. Now if as seems true this commodity is going to collapse and if ,as is true ,it is vastly important to the economy then why o why is the currency still so strong. And if it does collapse, won’t the Aussie Dollar do the same; thus counter balancing the falling Iron Ore price. Just thinking out loud!

Will be an up day tomorrow for sure.

I am doing the 7am show on Sky Business News tomorrow if anyone is up early and wants overnight analysis, I am your man.. May need a strong coffee and decent makeup.

Did write this before the vote for pm so got something right !!