Weakening US futures and heavy selling in the big banks helped drag the local market lower this morning.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 46 points or 0.96% at 4790, hamstrung by a 1.7% tumble in the financial sector as investors mulled the implications of up to three more rate rises before the end of the year. The mining sector retreated 0.7%. Defensive sectors gold (+0.7%), telecoms (+0.3%) and consumer staples (+0.2%) bucked the downtrend.
US futures were flagging a weak start to the trading week. Dow futures were recently at -37 as Asian markets retreated. The Nikkei lost 1.17% and South Korea was down 0.5%.
The spot gold price drifted more than $3 lower to $1049.20. Crude oil futures pulled back around 30 cents to $78.41.
Another mixed morning here. Nice scalp on MEO. In and out of MAP for peanuts. Paper profit on a small scalp in AVD. Decent paper loss on a bungled buy in LNC - fat fingers strikes again. Just entered ALY - starting to look overdone intraday.
