Rio Tinto shares got up to $100.13 just before 11am this morning, with the stock up 31.9 per cent since the start of the year. Rio shares have not been at $100 since June 2008.

Iron ore prices have climbed this year due to uncertainty surrounding supply of the commodity, in the wake of a fatal dam collapse at an iron ore mining operation in Brazil. The incident is expected to curtail the iron ore production of Brazilian miner Vale by tens of millions of tonnes.

Global iron ore prices surged on Friday, with a key industry benchmark price jumping 3.8 per cent to $US87.05 for a tonne of iron ore delivered to China.

Read Darren Gray's story on the iron ore price here

The future of online real estate group Domain outside of Australia's biggest cities is being discussed as part of Nine Entertainment Co's sell-off of 160 regional and community newspapers. Bidders are currently in the due diligence phase of the auction process for Nine's regional news business known as Australian Community Media (ACM), with April 24 marking the cut-off date for a second round of offers. A deal is expected to be done by the end of the month.

Shares in Domain are up 1.7 per cent today to $2.64, the highest price in four weeks, while Nine Entertainment shares are up 2.3 per cent today to $1.78.

Sources close to the sales process say that during negotiations some bidders have raised what the deal will mean for Domain. Nine owns 59 per cent of Domain and is the owner of this masthead. Since Macquarie Capital opened up the data room for the regionals sale earlier this year, Nine chief executive Hugh Marks has been in contact with former Domain chief executive Antony Catalano.

The ACM business includes regional and community titles such as The Newcastle Herald, The Examiner, The Border Mail, The Courier and the Illawarra Mercury, and agricultural titles The Land, Queensland Country Life and Stock & Land. At the moment, Domain magazine inserts appear in some of the newspapers serving larger regional cities. Branded sections such as Domain Rural appear in many others.

Read the full story from Jennifer Duke here

Aeris Resources Limited says its negotiations with Glencore about buying an underground copper mine in central-western New South Wales remain ongoing. Aeris shares are at 16 cents in early trading.

The CSA Mine – operated by Glencore – employs more than 300 people near Cobar Shire, about 450km west of Broken Hill.

"The Company will update the market if and when any formal agreement in entered into in relation to the proposed acquisition."

An Aeries announcement from March said the current offer for the mine was $US575m. $US50m of that comprised shares with the rest cash, plus a royalty for Glencore (which is listed in London and brought Xstrata). The deal will likely then be subject to shareholder approval.

The mine produces over 1.1 million tonnes of copper ore and over 185,000 tonnes of copper concentrate per anum and is exported to India, China and South East Asia.

Shares in AirXpanders have been voluntarily suspended at 3.5 cents as it works out how to resolve breaching its banking covenants. The stock once trade at $1.18, but has been below 20 cents for the past year. AirXpanders sells breast implants filled with carbon-dioxide.

On Friday AirXpanders went into a trading halt as it expected to breach lending covenants because it will not reach minimum net revenue requirements. It is expecting revenue of between $US1.65 million and $US1.75 million. The company has spoken to its lenders, who are expected to waive the violation, but "there is no guarantee that future covenant violations (if any) will similarly be waived" and AirXpanders does not know if it will reach minimum revenue requirements in the future.

It is considering a capital raising and will resume trading after, but cannot say how long it will be until it gets approval to raise money. The suspension is expected to last until 6 May at least.

The S&P/ASX 200 jumped 35 points on opening to 6253, a gain of 0.6 per cent.

Fortescue Metal Group is up 3.6 per cent to $7.70 after announcing its Iron Bridge project has been approved. Hub24 is up 4.7 per cent to $15.18 and Afterpay Touch is up 4.2 per cent to $23.32.

Early laggers include Credit Corp with a drop of 4.9 per cent to $21.33, and Adelaide Brighton is down 3.5 per cent to $4.38.

Incitec Pivot is down 2.5 per cent to $3.08 after this morning's announcement.

Former Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev has been appointed chief operating officer of online jobs advertiser Seek. The New Zealander will also lead the company's Asia Pacific and Americas operations and will, according to chief executive Andrew Bassat, bring a "deep strategic thinking ability and an excellent understanding of the disruptive impact of technology".

As well as having executive responsibility for the Asia Pacific and Americas business, Mr Narev will work closely with Seek CEO and co-founder Andrew Bassat on strategy development and operating priorities for the overall company. He will start April 29.

Still, it's a step down for the 51-year-old Mr Narev - Seek has a market value of $6.1 billion, compared to CBA's $126 billion.

"We will benefit from his track record of being a proven, successful CEO of a complex organisation, with deep strategic thinking ability and an excellent understanding of the disruptive impact of technology," Mr Bassat said.

Read the full story here

Fertiliser maker Incitec Pivot warns its first half earnings will be up to million lower than previously forecast due to drought and flood. Fertiliser sales across eastern Australia are 200,000 tonnes lower in the first half of 2018-19 than they were the previous year "and it seems unlikely at this stage that there will be any substantial recover of those lost volumes in the second half", the company told the market this morning. This will take about $20 million from first half earnings. It also said a flood rail line, which it previously advised would cost $100 million, would actually cost about $60 million in the first half, and $100 million for the full financial year.

And Incitec Pivot has reviewed its singe super phosphates manufacturing operations in Victoria and decided to close its Geelong plant at a cost of $13 million. However, the primary distribution centre in Portland will remain open.

And the ammonia plant in Louisiana, US, which had a carbon dioxide removal problem has been repaired. But the plant had to be shut again in March due to problems with compressor electronic controls. It is expected to be operational by the second week of April, but earnings will be about $14 million for the first half, compared to $62 million the previous year.

IG MARKETS SPONSORED POST

SPI futures up 36 points or 0.6% to 6240 as of 7.20am AEDT

AUD +0.3% to 71.14 US cents
On Wall St: Dow +1.3% S&P 500 +1.2% Nasdaq +1.3%
In New York, BHP +2.4% Rio +1.7% Atlassian +1.3%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 +1% FTSE +0.5% CAC +1% DAX +1.4%
Spot gold -0.2% to $US1289.94 an ounce near 1pm New York time
Brent crude +1.8% to $US68.80 a barrel
US oil +1.9% to $US61.30 a barrel
Iron ore +2.2% to $US88.69 a tonne
Dalian iron ore +1.2% to 646 yuan
LME aluminium -0.7% to $US1900 a tonne
LME copper +0.2% to $US6471 a tonne
2-year yield: US 2.33% Australia 1.47%
5-year yield: US 2.32% Australia 1.46%
10-year yield: US 2.50% Australia 1.80% Germany -0.03%
US-Australia 10-year yield gap as of 7.25am AEDT: 70 basis points

IG MARKETS SPONSORED POST

Another strong day for global markets has the ASX poised for big gains at the open. Stocks ubiquitously rallied overnight, with the S&P500 eyeing new highs. Bond yields are recovering ground after their recent tumbles. Commodities were generally higher, though (of course) gold was down. And growth currencies rallied, with the Japanese Yen leading the G10 laggards.

A little description, a re-cap if you will, of the data that drove this price action is definitely warranted. And here, this could be evidence of market participants' collective desire to simplify and cherry-pick information. Markets were swept up in the hope and positivity of a series of PMI releases on Monday. There were many of them released, amongst other high-impact economic data. However, two stood out as the drivers of risk-sentiment.

The most important was Chinese Caixin PMI numbers, which validated the weekend's "official" figures, and showed an expansionary print in that metric. The second most was US ISM PMI numbers, which delivered a robust print itself, beating economists consensus forecasts, too.

Nevertheless, unsurprisingly, the ASX200 appears set to follow the risk-on theme this morning and jump in excess of 30 points at today's open. It's going be a massive day for Australian-econ-watchers; and may market participants too.

Good morning and welcome to today's Markets Live blog. Your editor today is Lucy Battersby (lbattersby@theage.com.au).

Today we have a Reserve Bank rates decision and every economics reporter in the country will be in the Budget lock up from 2pm to 7pm.

This blog is not intended as financial advice.