Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Shares...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares rallied for a second day ahead of this afternoon's Reserve Bank rate announcement.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 26 points or 0.45% ahead at 5772, with standout sectors including utilities +1.2%, health +1.1% and IT +1%. The gains might have been greater but for a soft session for resource stocks. The gold sector declined 1.6%, metals & mining 0.3% and materials 0.1%.

US equity futures remained mired in the red despite a Republican Party announcement of plans to wind back former President Obama's healthcare system. Dow futures were recently off 12 points or 0.06%. S&P 500 futures were down 2.75 points or 0.12%.

The Reserve Bank met this morning and is due to outline its rate outlook at 2.30pm EST. The cash rate is expected to be left unchanged.

"The RBA should err on the side of caution for now and clearly not signal a bias of policy tightening, although maintain its recent adopted optimistic setting," IG strategist Chris Weston told Fairfax. "They can be more upbeat on key commodity exports, especially as we head into a seasonally strong period for the likes of iron ore.However, a number of commodity analysts have suggested the wheels could fall off as we head into the second half of the year, especially HSBC, which recently put out a note suggesting 'iron ore set for a massive fall this year'."

A mixed morning in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.15%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gain 0.23% and Japan's Nikkei lose 0.13%.

Crude oil futures flatlined this morning at US$53.20 a barrel. Gold futures inched up 30 cents or 0.02% to US$1,225.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 75.96 US cents.


Fairfax has attributed the turnaround in the ASX this morning to the repeal of Obamacare, however, there is no excitement in US futures to support that. More likely traders getting set for the RBA statement. Trading: got something out of ARL and CHK but otherwise suffered the curse of the part-filled order this morning. I'm looking at you NAE, SCI, DRO.