The share market suffered its first setback of 2017, losing ground for the first time in six sessions as declines in crude and US stocks encouraged profit-taking.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 51 points or 0.9% weaker at 5756 as a broad sell-off lowered all sectors except the defensive gold (+1.6%). The energy sector led the retreat, losing 1.4% after US crude skidded almost 4% to a three-week low overnight. West Texas Intermediate crude futures bounced seven cents or 0.13% this morning to US$52.03 a barrel.
Other notable falls this morning included financials -1.2%, consumer discretionary -1% and telecoms -0.9%.
Overnight, the S&P 500 eased 0.35% amid speculation about profit-taking ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration later this month. S%P 500 futures were recently off 2.25 points or 0.1%.
"The mood, certainly on social media and to an extent on trading floors, suggests bearish sentiment in on the rise, even though US equity markets have really only fallen modestly and there really hasn't been any one piece of news that been catching attention," IG strategist Chris Weston told Fairfax. "US fourth-quarter earnings season seems the next likely catalyst, with expectations of strong earnings growth keeping the sellers at bay... for now."
Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.09%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng improved 0.39% and Japan's Nikkei shed 0.14%.
Gold futures softened $3.50 or 0.3% to US$1,181.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.44 US cents.
XJO taking an overdue breather. Trading volumes picked up yesterday to something akin to a slow day in a normal week, so the fundies, etc, are coming back. Be interesting to see just how much profit-taking there is in the days ahead. Quite a lot of wiggle room below without upsetting the uptrend. Trading: some pullback action at last. Took LTR, DYL, BUB and CPH. BUB was always going to be a good chance today on the three-day reversal rule and the fact negative sentiment seemed to be reaching a crescendo - always a good entry signal. On a sidenote, am finding the CommSec Chi-X option a huge advantage for pip trading.
