Australian stocks followed global markets lower this morning but pared early losses ahead of the 1 pm release of Chinese economic data.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 20 points or 0.4% at 4847 and well off the morning low of 4826 as strength in financial and telecom stocks countered some of the selling in the resources sectors. Telecoms rallied 1.5% and financials 0.3%, while metals & mining fell 1.4%, materials 1.4%, gold 2.8% and energy 1.6%.
Asian markets recovered some of yesterday's heavy losses after China moved to dampen economic growth. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.46% in morning trade and Shanghai 0.08%. Dow futures were at +14.
Gold and oil edged higher this morning. Crude oil futures climbed 26 cents to $77.62 a barrel. The spot gold price was $1,114.10 an ounce, up nearly $4.
A better morning than anticipated. I was too cautious in early trade and didn't take as many trades as I would have liked. Scalped bounces in CDU and MRM but took profits too quickly. Buying SHL on weakness two days ago worked well - a reliable defensive stock.
Now let's see if the Chinese figures give the market a lift.
