The share market looks set to break a two-week losing run as gains in energy and yield stocks offset weakness in miners.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 18 points or 0.3% higher at 5950 and on track to end the week almost 50 points higher than where it resumed trade after the Easter break. The market drifted lower for two weeks after failing at a second attempt to break the 6000 level, last seen in February 2008.
Energy stocks rallied 1.5% this morning to lead the sector gains. Other stand-outs included consumer staples +1.3%, utilities +1% and health +0.7%. Gold stocks declined 1.2%, metals & mining 0.6% and materials 0.5%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng pulled back 0.06% following a two-day buying frenzy that pushed the index to a seven-year high. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.79% and Japan's Nikkei eased 0.08%. Dow futures were recently off 22 points or 0.1%.
Crude oil futures retreated five cents this morning to US$50.74 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.70 firmer at US$1,195.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying 77.05 US cents.
Hints this week that some of the speculative money might be moving back into beaten-up resources? The big gains are in tech/biotechs, but there are signs of life in select mining juniors such as THX, NMT, CKK. NMT gave me the hump - got in near the low yesterday and couldn't give the shares away yesterday arvo. Sold late in the day for a small hit. If I've had a good week I suffer from a surfeit of caution on Friday and that was the case today. Was too cheap to pay the extra cent/half cent for NRT, BNE or SMA (insert Scottish joke here). Only buy was MYR, which has gone precisely nowhere.
