Thanks Brit and morning regulars. Half-time round-up: A fourth...

Thanks Brit and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

A fourth straight rise pushed the Australian share market to its highest level in almost three weeks as news of fresh Chinese stimulus measures helped offset weak US equity futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 45 points or 0.8% ahead at 5767 after earlier touching 5773, the index's highest point since May 6 and the first 'higher high' since the index stalled just below 6000 for the fourth time on April 27. Gains were once again broad, with stand-outs including utilities +2.6%, consumer discretionary +1.2%, metals & mining +0.9% and financials +0.9%.


"The announcement of one thousand new infrastructure projects in China has turned the outlook for industrial commodities," CMC chief market strategist Michael McCarthy told Fairfax. "Copper, iron ore and oil are all higher this morning as markets factor in this most recent demonstration of commitment to stabilising China growth rates around 7%."


US equity futures remained mildly negative following overnight setbacks on the European markets that were open for trade. Dow futures were recently off 21 points or more than 0.1%. China's Shanghai Composite overcame early weakness to advance 0.84%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.34% and Japan's Nikkei 0.01%.

Spot gold softened 90 cents this morning to US$1,206.10 an ounce. Crude oil futures were flat at US$59.82 a barrel. The dollar was buying 78.3 US cents.


This is starting to look like a reversal week after a month of gradual decline. The 'higher high' looks to be coming. A 'lower low' would add to confidence. For all that, a little of the steam seems to have come out of the spec market this week. Not enough to ring alarm bells, but intraday trades have been harder to come by. Trading: took advantage of the sell-off in ALT to grab a few. (Endless, it's just Small Cap Investor downramping so they can grab our shares. Well they're not getting mine, I'm in it for the long run, great opportunity to top up, etc, etc. For more information on this subject, see every thread every time there's a large sell-off.) Sold some already. Will likely hold a few overnight - seemed to work the last time there was a panic, two weeks ago.