Thanks Endless. The investment community thanks you for doing your bit to stimulate the Chinese economy.
Half-time round-up:
The share market is on track for a third straight weekly advance despite a lacklustre session as Asian markets retreated ahead of tonight's US jobs report.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was six points or 0.1% lower at 5403 after spending the morning in a tight 14-point trading range. A close at these levels would represent a weekly gain of around 36 points.
A mixed market saw gains in utilities +0.6%, energy +0.4%, property trusts +0.4% and gold +0.4% offset by declines in telecoms -0.5%, consumer staples -0.4% and financials -0.3%.
"Barring something out of left field, a nothing sort of day is on the cards ahead of the March US non-farm payrolls data," Tony Farnham, analyst at Paterson Securities, told Bloomberg.
Asian markets drifted lower. China's Shanghai Composite lost 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.09% and Japan's Nikkei 0.22%. Dow futures were recently up 26 points or less than 0.2%.
Crude oil futures gained three cents this morning at US$100.36 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.40 firmer at US$1,283.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 92.35 US cents.
Whatever happened to volatility. Third day in a row where the XJO has barely budged. If it wasn't for CZI yesterday I would be in a coma. Squeezed half a day's wage out of HCH but can probably consider myself lucky. Also scalped the rebound in PTM. Subsistence stuff to keep the trading account ticking over at the end of a good week.
