Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Bullish US...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Bullish US equity futures helped the ASX overcome soft Chinese factory data to push to the highest level in almost a year.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 47 points or 0.85% higher at 5610, the benchmark index's first break above 5600 since August 6 last year. A broad rally included gains for gold stocks +3.7%, energy +2.3% and metals & mining +2.1%. The financials sector put on 0.7%.

US futures pointed to optimism at the start of a week that may include fresh stimulus measures from Japan tomorrow. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to announce a new fiscal package to support a Bank of Japan announcement last week that fell short of market expectations. Dow futures were recently up 69 points or 0.38%.

“The very low amount of stimulus from the BOJ does leave the market clearly expecting a significant move from Prime Minister Abe in his announcement,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific, told Bloomberg, "Overall, we remain concerned about the impact of tighter US policy, but that can easily be overwritten by a significant stimulus package from Japan.”

China's Shanghai Composite slumped 0.92% after the government's official factory gauge slipped back into contraction. The purchasing managers' index dropped to 49.9 last month from 50 in June. Economists had expected the index to hold steady. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 1.5% and Japan's Nikkei 0.5%.

Crude oil futures bounced 16 cents or 0.38% this morning to US$41.76 a barrel. Gold futures were $1 or 0.07% weaker at US$1,356.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.05 US cents.


Some poorly-received quarterlies out this morning. Prominent victims included IOT, TV2, CAV and CAJ. I couldn't get a clear enough read on anything to pull the trigger, so I've reached the halfway mark empty-handed. Never a great way to start the week.