Rio Tinto expected to beat shipping guidance

Rio Tinto is tipped to scale back sales of its arsenal of stockpiled iron ore this year, but the world's lowest-cost producer of iron ore is still likely to beat its shipping guidance of 350 million tonnes in calendar 2015, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Analysts expect Rio's production numbers for the first quarter, to be released on Tuesday, to show the miner shipped the same amount it produced – about 80 million tonnes from the Pilbara – and about 83 million globally, a 24% increase on the same time last year.

Arrium should consider mining exit to stem losses, says Allan Gray

Fund manager Allan Gray said the Arrium board should be discussing a possible end to mining iron ore for export after the company reported hefty cash losses in its mining arm, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Arrium on Monday said that its total cash cost per tonne of iron ore for the March quarter was $66.90, but the group's average realised sales price was just $58 a tonne.

Allan Gray portfolio manager Simon Mawhinney said that provisional pricing adjustments explain some of the pain in the mining business but the cash losses are “unusually high”

Oil rebound may be a false dawn

Deutsche Bank and OPEC say while oil has rallied 24% from its January lows and is now trading at four-month highs thanks to strong US demand for petrol – the overall trend remains bearish, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Brent crude oil reached a peak of $US109 a barrel in June 2014 but fell to $US51 in January. It has since recovered to trade at $US64.10 on Monday, up 1% for the session and at its highest since December. West Texas Intermediate crude has followed a similar trajectory.