Afternoon trading November 14

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1, @Patterns and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

The share market trimmed two days of decline as gains in commodity prices boosted resource stocks.

The ASX 200 rallied 48 points or 0.7% by mid-session. The energy and materials sectors set the pace after crude climbed to a one-week high, iron ore touched levels last seen in 2021 and gold, copper and uranium also rose.

Commodity price gains helped the market look past a mixed night on Wall Street ahead of consumer inflation data tonight that will either bolster or undermine the case for a continuing rates pause. The Dow edged up 0.16%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost 0.08% and 0.22%, respectively.

ASX gains were kept in check by a pair of negative signals for the economy. Consumer confidence took its biggest hit in six months after the RBA hiked benchmark rates. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer confidence index declined 2.6% to 79.9 points this month.

Meanwhile, business confidence turned negative, even as trading conditions improved. NAB's confidence index dropped to -2 last month from +1 in September. The conditions index firmed to +13 from +12.



Personal trading: Slow morning. Got some ASR at 1.2c, but not a full fill. Pity - I never have problems getting full fills for losing trades. With them, it's All-U-Can-Eat.