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Distributed: June 9, 2009

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Sydney, June 9, 2009 (ABN Newswire) - Wall Street rebounded Friday from early loss in late trade, on hope of the banking system is stabilizing further. The US regulators are expected to unveil the first round of banks which may repay bailout funds.

On Friday, the Australian market closed higher, lifted by the news of a massive joint venture between mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto after Rio scrapped the takeover deal with Chinalco. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 36.6 points, or 0.93 per cent, at 3971.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 36.5 points, or 0.93 per cent, to 3969.0 points. Today the local market could be hit by lower commodities prices.

Key Economic Facts and Figures

The Dun & Bradstreet National Business Expectations survey showed that 53% business executives surveyed expect profits of their business to fall and 47% expect lower sales in the third quarter. There are 17% of firms seeking to lower capital expenditure and 24% of them expecting to cut back staff in the third quarter.

Today ANZ will release its job advertisements survey for May. National Australia Bank releases its business survey for May, and the Melbourne Institute releases its Employment Report for June.

M&A News

CSL Limited (ASX:CSL) said in a statement that the company and US-based plasma therapeutics firm Talecris Biotherapeutic agreed to terminate the $US3.1 billion takeover proposal because the US Federal Trade Commission was going to block it. CSL will spend about A$1.59 billion to buy back up to 54.9 million shares on market, or about 9 per cent of its shares on issue.

OZ Minerals (ASX:OZL) confirmed it had received an equity recapitalisation proposal from an unnamed group, in addition to the $US1.2 billion recapitalisation proposal led by RFC Group and the Royal Bank of Canada. OZ Minerals said neither proposal was superior over the US$1.2 billion deal with Chinese commodities trader Minmetals Nonferrous Metals Co.

Important Corporate News

Internet service provider iiNet Ltd (ASX:IIN) says it expects "strong growth" for financial 2009. The company expects a full-year net profit of A$25 million, compared with the 2007/08 net profit of A$23.3 million. iiNet also said the company had been granted an extension to its existing debt facility with Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) for a further three years.

Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) requested its contractors and suppliers to accept the 20 per cent price cut from July 1, and hinted that their future relationship with Fortescue would depend on agreeing to the new terms.

Engineering services provider Coffey International (ASX:COF) is expecting operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the range of A$54 million to A$57 million for the year to June 30, 2009, including one-off costs of around A$2 million associated with redundancy payments.

Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) has downgraded its earnings guidance for 2008/09, after taking into account the progress of its majority owned New Zealand power generator Contact Energy (NZE:CEN). Origin had previously forecast an underlying profit for the full year between 20 per cent and 25 per cent higher than in 2007/08. Origin now expects the underlying profit is unlikely to be more than 20 per cent higher than last year.

Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX:GXY) has secured key supplies of sulphuric acid and caustic soda for its proposed lithium carbonate plant in Jiangsu Province, China. Managing Director, Iggy Tan said the agreement with Two Lions meant that Galaxy had now locked in key consumable supply and unloading access for its lithium carbonate plant in China.

Electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) expects its full year net profit in fiscal 2009 to be around $92 million, a 41 per cent increase on the previous year.

Contact

Michelle Liang
Asia Business News Asia Bureau
Tel: +61-2-9247-4344
Email: michelle.l@abnnewswire.net

  Related Companies

>>>         Coffey International Limited
>>>        Contact Energy Limited
>>>         Csl Limited
>>>           Fortescue Metals Group Ltd
>>>         Galaxy Resources Limited
>>>        Iinet Limited
>>>         Jb Hi-fi Limited
>>>              Origin Energy Limited
>>>           Oz Minerals Limited
>>>         Westpac Banking Corporation

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Consumer Electronics | Commercial Banking | Gas & Oil | Metals | Biotech | Consumers General | Energy General | Environment General | Financial General | Networking | Mining | Australian Economy | 

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