Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Cheers Jim for covering this slot...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Cheers Jim for covering this slot yesterday.


Half-time round-up:

The ASX 200 nosed above 5500 for the first time in 12 weeks before pulling back ahead of tonight's US Thanksgiving market holiday.

At 1pm EST the benchmark index was five points or 0.1% weaker at 5480 after earlier running as high as 5503. Resource stocks led the retreat, with the gold sector down 3.8%, energy 0.9%, metals & mining 0.7% and materials 0.6%. Gains included consumer staples +0.3%, financials +0.2% and IT +0.2%.

Trading volumes around the globe declined overnight as many US investors prepared for a four-day break to mark Thanksgiving. The S&P 500 inched 0.08% higher in late trade.

"Volumes have been poor through US equity markets and that's hardly a surprise given the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, but the juggernaut that is the bull market continues," Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, told CNBC.

Japan's Nikkei played catch-up after yesterday's market holiday, rising 1.03%.  China's Shanghai Composite added 0.07% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4%. Dow futures were recently down 13 points or 0.07%.

Crude oil futures improved seven cents or 0.15% this morning to US$48.03 a barrel. Gold futures softened another $4.40 or 0.37% to US$1,188 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.74 US cents.


The XJO banged up against overhead resistance in early trade and seems highly unlikely to punch straight through without a strong lead from Wall Street. Bit of a retrace from here? Trading: got back into the swing with early wins in DRM and GPP, but it has gone disappointingly quiet since then.