Afternoon trading Feb 14

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares surrendered early gains as market heavyweight CBA traded without its dividend and energy stocks declined for a fifth day.

The ASX 200 rolled over early in the session despite further signs of healing on Wall Street overnight. Australia's benchmark index was lately down five points or 0.1% at 5851 and threatening its third loss in four sessions. The financials sector was the biggest drag, falling 0.6% as CBA went ex-dividend. Also weak: consumer discretionary -0.7% and telecoms -0.6%.

The energy sector remained under pressure from falling crude prices, lately down 0.1%. The sector marked a two-and-a-half month low earlier this week as the collapse in global equities undermined risk appetite.

Overnight, the S&P 500 edged up 0.26% for its third straight advance, raising hopes that the recent correction is passing. This morning S&P 500 futures were up four points or 0.15%. However, analysts warned that tonight's US inflation data could derail the recovery.

"A strong US core CPI [consumer price index] would likely lead to lower global equity prices, higher US bond yields, and a stronger dollar against most currencies," Joseph Capurso, CBA currency strategist, told CNBC.

A mixed morning in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite up 0.25% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.78%, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.19%.

Crude oil futures bounced seven cents or 0.12% this morning to US$59.26 a barrel. Gold futures put on $3.80 or 0.29% to US$1,334.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 78.62 US cents.



Further evidence overnight that Wall Street is settling down after the correction. However, fingers won't be far from the 'Sell' button and we could use a couple of weeks without any major negative surprises. A strong inflation reading tonight may gave markets another excuse to sell off. Time will tell. Trading: the collapse in volatility at the spec end is making for a difficult week. Once again, could only find a single buy this morning: KIN. Boardroom ructions have driven it back towards obvious horizontal support. Sold half into skinny bounce. Rest may prove more of a short-term play once what looks like a single disgruntled big seller has moved on.