Australian shares clawed back some of yesterday's losses this morning to near the end of a holiday-shortened week little changed from Friday.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 15 points or 0.3% at 4891, driven by strength in resource sectors on firmer commodity prices and take-over action. The gold sector jagged 6.1% higher after Australia's second-largest listed gold miner, LGL, rejected a $9.2 billion take-over proposal from NCM. Shares in LGL soared 30% this morning. The metals & mining sector climbed 1.7%, materials 1.5% and energy 0.3%.
There was a welter of economic news this morning:
The nation's trade balance widened more than expected last month as imports rose and exports fell. The deficit was $1.92 billion - two-thirds more than January's $1.1 billion shortfall and much greater than the $1.3 billion figure touted by economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Exports of coal and gold slumped.
"The trade balance was a lot wider than we expected,"JP Morgan economist Helen Kevans told Fairfax. "But the outlook for the export sector is still very favourable so we do think these numbers will be reversed over the next few months."
A rise in inflation turns up the pressure on the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates next week. The TD Securities-MI inflation gauge climbed 0.5% per last month, following a 0.1% rise in February.
"It appears that inflationary pressures are again building up a head of steam," TD Securities senior strategist Annette Beacher told Fairfax. "Both imported and domestic inflation rose solidly this month, something we've not seen for nearly 18 months."
Job vacancies increased 12.5% in the three months to February, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Asian markets pushed higher despite a poor lead from Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.7%, Shanghai 0.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.7%. Dow futures were recently at +20.
Crude oil futures rallied 10 cents this morning to $83.32 a barrel. The spot gold price was 30 cents stronger at $1,113.60 an ounce.
A sluggish morning for anyone who missed BRD - that would include me. Scalped the low in RCY and a trailing stop took me out of ANN for peanuts. Starting to build a position in CRG after a two-day pullback. Traders with a longer perspective might be interested in early hints of a double bottom in the thinly-traded NIP. Not enough volume for day trading but there may be a swing trade in it - small spec position taken.
