Afternoon trading April 19

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Australian shares slumped to a two-month low as US equity futures plunged amid reports of an Israeli attack on Iran.

The ASX 200 dropped 111 points or 1.45% towards its sixth loss in seven sessions. A broad retreat dragged down all sectors except energy. Banks, tech companies and property stocks suffered most as bond markets continued to discount any prospect of rate cuts in the next few months.

Oil rallied 3.8% this morning followed reports of explosions inside Iran from Israeli air-strikes. S&P 500 futures sank 1.2%.

Overnight, US stocks continued their recent trend towards early gains dissipating by the close. The S&P 500 faded to a loss of 0.22%, extending the benchmark's losing run to five straight sessions. The market lost momentum as Fed officials talked down market hopes of rate cuts as soon as June.


Personal trading: Caught a brief ex-dividend bounce in WAX. Also took MSV and CHM on retrace and BRG at what I hope was technical support (about to be retested).