The New Year bull rally extended into a fifth session as the benchmark index shrugged off mild weakness in resource stocks to record a new 20-month high.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 67 points or 1.2% ahead at 5822, the index's first foray above 5800 since May 2015. The big banks did the heavy lifting with a surge of 1.6%. Also strong: health +2.1%, IT +2% and industrials +1.3%. The gold sector dipped 0.4% and metals % mining 0.1% following declines in precious metals and iron ore on Friday.
Today's rally followed solid gains in the US on Friday as a pick-up in wage growth offset mildly disappointing monthly jobs numbers. Dow futures were recently ahead 17 points or 0.09%.
China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.09% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.52%. Trade on Japan's Nikkei was suspended for a holiday.
Crude oil futures retreated 29 cents or 0.54% this morning to US$53.70 a barrel. Gold futures were $2.20 or 0.19% firmer at US$1,175.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.15 US cents.
Big move on the index, but further down the food chain this still feels like a holiday market. Hoped things would accelerate this week, but may need another week before things return to anything like normal. Trading: watching BUB, but this looks like a distribution day. Interested if it comes lower. The pros look to have it well under control. Missed good swing opps in LTR and CCE. Took AKM.
