Australia's benchmark share index launched this year's fourth assault on the stubborn 5800 level despite an eighth straight loss for US blue chips overnight.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was ahead 61 points or 1.1% at 5807, again challenging a level that has resisted three previous attempts since early January. Leading the advance were the financials sector +1.6%, energy +1.3% and metals & mining +0.9%. The only drags were the defensive gold and utilities sectors, down 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively.
This morning's rally came despite declines in key commodities and a mixed night on Wall Street, where the Dow's losing run stretched to the longest in six years. The S&P 500's loss of 0.1% was much smaller than US futures suggested going into last night's session.
"US equity markets [fell] a touch, but certainly not to the extent futures markets were suggesting when Asia was trading yesterday," IG strategist Chris Weston told Fairfax. "It seems the market is happy to buy pullbacks despite this growing feeling... that realistically we should be thinking about a cut in the US corporate tax rate to 28% to 30% and not 15%.
Dow futures were recently ahead 19 points or 0.1%. China's Shanghai Composite dipped 0.08%, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.58% and Japan's Nikkei 0.95%.
Crude oil futures improved 21 cents or 0.44% this morning to US$47.94 a barrel. Gold futures eased $2 or 0.16% to US$1,256.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.34 US cents.
US equity futures have given us the runaround over the last two sessions. Today the market is doing its own thing. Fourth time the charm for 5800? Feels like we've slopped around here long enough. Trading: took an eternity to get onto a trade, but NAE paid off from 1.5c. Phew.
