Three big mergers keep bourse flying

The Australian stockmarket has surged to fresh highs, driven by a flurry of merger activity.
The ASX200 jumped 48 points to 5088.1 yesterday, racing past the previous record closing high of 5040.1 set on Friday. The All Ordinaries leapt 43.5 to 5045.1.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the June share price index contract closed up 52 points at 5103 on volume of 13,855.
Shaw Stockbroking head dealer Jamie Spiteri said the announcement of three big new takeover offers had helped to drive the market higher.
"The merger and takeover situation is certainly continuing to keep this market quite buoyant at present," he said.
"There's signs of plenty of cash around to invest in our market and on top of that you've got [merger and acquisition] activity which continues to grow."
Lotteries company Tattersall's and gaming and wagering business UNiTAB announced a proposed merger which values UNiTAB at about $1.9 billion.
News of the deal sent Tattersall's shares racing up 22c to $3.29 and UNiTAB soaring $1.78 to $15.71.
Shares in the Australian Stock Exchange shot up $2.60 to $35.20 after it unveiled a proposed merger with the Sydney Futures Exchange, which rocketed up $3.83, or 27.1 per cent, to $17.95.
And industrial services provider Transpacific Industries soared $1.40, or 22.6 per cent, to $7.60 after offering $748 million for Waste Management NZ under a merger proposal.
Waste Management NZ shares jumped $1.22 to $7.28.
Mr Spiteri said the weakening dollar continued to boost the big miners, with BHP Billiton climbing 86c to $26.78 and Rio Tinto rising $1.82 to $77.05.
The big banks were mixed, with the Commonwealth up 32c to $45.45 and NAB up 35c to $37.35 while Westpac slipped 3c to $23.83 and ANZ 9c to $26.15.
News Corp put on 24c to reach $24.72 while the non-voters rose 16c to $23.36.
Fairfax fell 1c to $3.93 and PBL backtracked 29c to $17.40.
Patrick Corp firmed 1c to $8.15 as it continued to resist the latest offer from Toll Holdings, whose shares closed down 13c at $13.85.
Macquarie Infrastructure Group climbed 15c to $3.85 after saying it would sell its stakes in three Sydney motorways.
Telstra sank 3c to $3.67 and Optus-owner Singapore Telecom was unchanged on $2.30.
Retail stocks were mixed with Coles Myer advancing 5c to $10.55 and Woolworths falling 26c to $19.35.
The spot price of gold in Sydney was $US560.35 a troy ounce, up $US11.20 on Friday's close. Newcrest Mining was up 28c at $20.84 and Lihir 9c at $2.35.
Goodman Fielder was the top traded stock, with 52.54 million shares worth $110.55 million changing hands as the stock dropped 7c to $2.10.