Shares hit a fresh 2017 low en route to a probable second straight losing week ahead of an afternoon Chinese economic update and tonight's US presidential inauguration.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 40 points or 0.7% lower at 5652 as the 'Trump rally' continued to unwind. The businessman will tonight become the US's 45th president. The benchmark index gave up its gains for the year earlier in the week and today dipped to a three-and-a-half-week low.
“It’s clear that investors have reached a level where they are prepared to wait and see what the Trump administration has to offer,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets Asia Pacific, told Bloomberg.
Leading the retreat were the metals & mining sector -1.5%, financials -1.35% and energy -0.7%. Defensive sectors offered a haven, with health up 1.2%, utilities 0.5% and telecoms 0.1%.
China was due to release a swag of economic figures at 1pm EST, including Q4 GDP and December industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment. Ahead of the release, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng sagged 0.71% and Japan's Nikkei was flat at -0.01%. Dow futures were off 18 points or 0.1%.
Crude oil futures improved 18 cents or 0.35% this morning to US$51.55 a barrel. Gold futures were $5.70 or 0.47% stronger at US$1,207.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 75.77 US cents.
MUS obviously paying off well today for many. Interesting uptick in volume/direction yesterday. Goodness some people were fortunate to buy ahead of today's announcement. Cough. Lucky the ASX/ASIC are around to ensure a level playing field for all. Cough. Trading: clipped tickets in MRQ and IOT. Solid week.
