Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 tops 6300 but fades in light volume.
• ASX 200 up just 14 to 6286.
• High 6301 Low 6277.
• Financials again attracting buyers.
• BHP cheers with news on shale sale.
• AUD stronger at 74.62c
• Bitcoin eases to US$6696
• Aussie Gold $1687.90.
• US futures rally again up 128.
• Asian markets rally despite trade woes. Japan up 1.18%  and China CSI 300 up 2.18%.

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• DMP -3.77% stuffed crust.
• ELD +1.98% bounces back after Friday’s rout.
• VOC +3.78% retirement of non-executive directors.
• AOG +2.98% bargain hunting.
• PLS +5.88% lithium price rises.
• APT +3.02% US business gaining traction.
• JIN -8.28% profit taking.
• CLV +10.37% bargain hunters appear.
• ISD +4.46% new CEO and guidance reaffirmed.
• RIO +1.44% moves higher on iron ore price.
• BLA -1.05% water entitlement deal.
• SHV -5.94% sell off continues.
• CTX -2.68% broker downgrade.
• Speculative stock of the day: Benitec (BLT) +% huge volume after announcing a global licensing agreement with Axovant for its treatment of OPMD.
• Biggest risers – PLS, API, VOC, MYO, GXY and WGX
• Biggest fallers – SHV, FAR, DMP, YAL, GTK and CTX.

TODAY

• Yancoal (YAL) – has started standing down the workforce at its Austar operation due to the legal proceedings there and relocating them to other Yancoal projects in an attempt to continue the employment of staff. Yancoal has said they do not have a date of when production at Austar will recommence and skeleton crews will remain to maintain the operation in the meantime.
• Independence Group (IGO) – preliminary production report. Nickle production at Nova was 3% below the low end of FY18 guidance, up 23% QoQ. This was due to SAG mill liner issues that have now been fixed. Copper and cobalt at Nova also were below the low end of FY18 guidance. Production at Tropicana and Long were both within FY18 guidance.

• Sandfire Resources (SFR) – the date of document completion has been extended an extra week regarding the deal for SFR to acquire Talisman Mining (TLM)’s 30% stake in the Springfield JV. Both parties are working to have the documents complete and have extended the date from the 7^th of July to the 14^th to do so.
• Village Roadshow (VRL) – is in a trading halt pending a capital raising.
• Wattle Health (WHA) – has signed a supply agreement for 12 months for its natural baby food range with Vasudevan and Sons Exim Private in India. The deal is for $1.5m, with extension agreements to be negotiated after the 12 months.
• Magellan Financial (MFG) – Funds under management from May to June grew 3.2% to $69,509m driven by increases in institutional funds. MFG will pay $755m in distributions and is entitled to a $40m performance fee for the last financial year.
• James Packer has resigned from the board of his private investment company CPH.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Nothing shaking but the trees.

ASIAN MARKET NEWS

• Tencent plans to spin off Tencent Music and Entertainment and list the music unit on a stock exchange in the US.
• Shares in Xiaomi dropped around 5% at the open in Hong Kong marking a disappointing start for one of the most highly-anticipated public offerings of 2018. It subsequently rallied back towards its HK$17 issue price valuing the company at US$50bn. It is the third largest maker of mobile devices golobally.

EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

• FTSE expected to open up 40 points –DAX up 64 points
• David Davis (chief Brexit honcho) has resigned throwing the whole Brexit negotiations into more turmoil. More to come. Looks like the Brexit negotiations are coming come. 263 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• The Rolling Stones sign up to fresh partnership with Universal Music. Universal said the “unprecedented” partnership with the band marks the beginning of “a new era of expanded collaboration”.
• Trump will visit the UK later this week and then on to NATO summit. Focus will be on Angela Merkel and Germany. No love lost there. UK focus will be on World Cup. Putin Summit to come.

And finally…………..

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

Clarence

It’s Coming Home!

XXX