Share market rises again amid hopes for European debt deal: Midday roundup

The Australian share market followed overseas markets higher amid hopes for an imminent deal on the Eurozone debt crisis and following a 3% rise yesterday.

IG markets analyst Ben Potter said in the absence of major data in Australia the market was likely to be swayed by macro events, which turned positive overnight.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has cleared the $12 billion takeover of local brewer Foster’s by global giant SABMiller.

At 11.30am the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 0.71% to 4033 while the All Ordinaries index was up 0.73% to 4093.

The Australia dollar was trading at $US1.013.

Wesfarmers sells Premier Coal

Wesfarmers has sold Premier Coal to Austar Coal, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Yanzhou Coal.

Austar will purchase the company for $269.8 million, with Wesfarmers shares rising 0.44% after the announcement.

The primary asset of Premier Coal, the Premier Coal mine, is 200 kilometres south of Perth and produces around 3.5 million tonnes of thermal coal each year.

“The sale is subject to a number of conditions including approvals from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and Chinese government authorities, which will be sought over the coming months,” Wesfarmers said.

Greens want gold added in MRRT

The Greens have said they want gold included in the upcoming mining tax but will not block the legislation if it doesn’t include it.

“If Treasury’s resource super profits tax were reverted to, which the Greens endorsed, adding gold would bring in $3.5 billion over the next three years,” party leader Bob Brown told ABC Radio.

“We are not going to block the government’s tax,” he said.

“But we do know that $100 billion will be lost over the next 10 years on average through not taking Treasury’s advice as the Greens want to.”

Sonray founder faces charges

Sonray Capital co-founder Russell Johnson is facing 24 charges in the Melbourne Magistrates court.

According to The Australian Johnson was not required to enter a plea yesterday, has been freed on bail and ordered to surrender his passport.

A committal hearing is set for mid-December.

Myer dishes downbeat outlook on retail

Meanwhile, Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes has tipped a weak Christmas for retailers, saying consumers were being bludgeoned by the carbon tax, the flood tax and rising living costs.

According to The Australian Brookes described consumer confidence as “probably the worst we’ve seen it in 30 years.”

He added that confidence might not return for six to 12 months.