REVA Medical will stay in a voluntary suspension until 30 June, the company announced this morning. It has received emergency funding of $3 million from existing lenders to help with "immediate financial needs on an interim basis", but is in discussions about a broader restructure. Chief executive Reggie Groves has resigned, Jeff Anderson has been promoted. Doctor Stephen Oesterle will become a strategic advisor and resign from the board.

Chairman C Raymond Larkin, Jr, said "Following a comprehensive review with the assistance of our outside advisors, REVA has entered into an agreement with a group of existing debt and equity holders to fund the company's near-term operations. This funding helps to ensure REVA has sufficient time to pursue long-term financial solutions that serve the interests of our many constituents - including patients, customers, employees, creditors, and shareholders".

REVA went into a voluntary suspension on 20 February when it was trading at 17 cents.

The S&P/ASX 200 is now down to 6134 points. The only sector in green is real estate with a 0.1 per cent rise.

Our market is heavy with mining and banking stocks, and these sectors are down 1 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.

The market has opened with a 0.6 per cent drop to 6157, the lowest point since the end of February. There are only 20 companies that have opened the day higher.

Premier Investments is taking a hammering, down 6 per cent to $15.40, Altium is down 4.5 per cent to $33.45, and Afterpay Touch is down 4 per cent to $19.82.

And selling is very heavy in BHP Group and Rio Tinto. BHP is down 1.6 per cent to $36.99 and Rio Tinto is down 1.24 per cent to $92.99.

In this morning's milk news, A2 has appointed a chief executive in Greater China, Li Xiao. He was be based in Shanghai and reports to A2's chief executive Asia Pacific, Peter Nathan. Mr Li's is "responsible for maximising the significant opportunities that the China market presents for the company".

Meanwhile, Corio Bay Dairy Group announces this morning it has a supply agreement with Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia for "the first ever commercial quantity of organic A2 fresh milk to be processed into organic A2 nutritional dairy powder". The processing facility will be based in North Geelong in Victoria. Wattle Health Australia (which owns 45 per cent of Corio Bay Dairy Group) has first rights on all the milk produced by Corio Bay. Wattle Health believes it is the first company to offer an organic A2 milk range.

IG MARKETS SPONSORED POST

SPI futures down 50 points or 0.8% to 6133

AUD -0.4% to 70.83 US cents
On Wall St: Dow -1.8% S&P 500 -1.9% Nasdaq -2.5%
In New York, BHP -2.7% Rio -1.2% Atlassian -4.9%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 -1.8% FTSE -2% CAC -2% DAX -1.6%
Spot gold +0.3% to $US1313.68 an ounce
Brent crude -1.2% to $US67.07 a barrel
US oil -1.6% to $US59.04 a barrel
Iron ore +1.7% to $US85.96 a tonne
Dalian iron ore +0.4% to 615 yuan
LME aluminium +0.2% to $US1903 a tonne
LME copper -1.7% to $US6312 a tonne
3-month US yield: 2.44%
2-year yield: US 2.32% Australia 1.49%
5-year yield: US 2.24% Australia 1.49%
10-year yield: US 2.44% Australia 1.83% Germany -0.02%
US-Australia 10-year yield gap: 61 basis points

Westpac's first-half profit will take a $260 million hit from refunding customers in its financial advice, consumer and business banking arms, and it has signalled this will not be the end of its compensation costs.

The banking giant on Monday said its first-half results, to be delivered in early May, will include a $260 million provision for customer remediation, with about 90 per cent of the costs relating to problems from previous financial years.

About half the costs relate to its financial advice business, which the bank last week said it would sell, and the remainder are for issues in its consumer and business banking divisions.

The update said these payouts did not include compensation for the "authorised representatives" in its financial advice division — self-employed advisers who operated under the bank's financial services licence — because of difficulty in accessing the necessary files.

Read the full story from Clancy Yeates here

Westpac's first-half profit will take a $260 million hit from refunding customers in its financial advice, consumer and business banking arms, and it has signalled this will not be the end of its compensation costs.

The banking giant on Monday said its first-half results, to be delivered in early May, will include a $260 million provision for customer remediation, with about 90 per cent of the costs relating to problems from previous financial years.

About half the costs relate to its financial advice business, which the bank last week said it would sell, and the remainder are for issues in its consumer and business banking divisions.

The update said these payouts did not include compensation for the "authorised representatives" in its financial advice division — self-employed advisers who operated under the bank's financial services licence — because of difficulty in accessing the necessary files.

Read the full story from Clancy Yeates here

IG MARKETS SPONSORED POST

Recession fears sent Wall Street diving on Friday, setting up the ASX to open with sharp falls this morning. The monumental tug-of war between improving financial conditions and deteriorating economic conditions continues. On Friday, it was the latter that took home the points, if only this time around. Both variables truly sit diametrically opposed, and as far as market participants are concerned, which force will prevail remains speculative. It's written into the mixed-messages markets have been signalling in the last several weeks.

It must be said, with the end of last week's trade, such discrepancies are becoming less pronounced. The dominating concern pertains to the outlook for global economic growth. The world economy's health is looking worse than previously imagined, and the re-introduction of dovish rhetoric from global central bankers is proving an inadequate remedy.

Unfortunately, too, the economic calendar today and (relatively speaking) the rest of the week, is looking quite empty. Inferring from what was dominating the financial press over the weekend, it will be politics on both sides of the Atlantic that will capture attention. Brexit rolls on, and volatility in the Pound is expected to rise as noises about UK PM Theresa May's leadership rises to a cacophony. And out this morning: early days, but Robert Mueller's report on collusion between the campaign team of US President Trump and the Russian Government during the 2016 US Presidential has found no conclusive evidence to support that allegation.

BHP has shut down the world's largest iron ore export port, Port Hedland, as Cyclone Veronica bears down on the West Australian coast.

The miner has suspended all port and rail activities in the region, telling workers to get to safety ahead of the category three cyclone smashing into Western Australia's north-west coast near Karratha, Port Hedland and the Pilbara.

Late on Sunday a spokesman for Rio Tinto said rail operations and some mining was stopped because of Cyclone Veronica.

"Safety is our top priority and we continue to monitor the movement of the cyclone. As a precautionary measure, the ports of Cape Lambert and Dampier were cleared of vessels and port operations stopped ahead of the cyclone. Rail operations in the Pilbara and mining at our Robe Valley operations have also been suspended," the spokesman said.

"We are focused on ensuring our employees, their families and the broader community are safe. As is standard cyclone preparation procedure, all non-essential staff in the region were sent home or flown out of Karratha ahead of the cyclone."

Read the full story from Cole Latimer here

Good morning and welcome to Markets Live.

Your editor today is Lucy Battersby (lbattersby@theage.com.au).

This blog is not intended as financial advice.