Australian shares clawed back early losses to reach lunchtime little changed as market heavyweights Telstra and CBA traded without their dividends and Asian markets traded mixed.
At 1pm the ASX 200 was up one point or less than 0.1% at 4371 after falling as low as 4344 in early trade. Health +2.2%, utilities +1% and industrials +0.9% were the pick of the sectors. Telstra and CBA were the main drags, falling 4.7% and 3%, respectively, as they went ex-dividend. The flat morning comes after a five-week winning run that has seen the benchmark index put on nearly 300 points.
"You do get to a stage where a lot of investors are a little bit sceptical whether this run will continue," IG Markets analyst Stan Shamu told Fairfax.
Asian markets diverged as weekend news of a pick-up in Chinese house prices sapped expectations for further monetary easing. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.61%, Shanghai fell 0.94% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.81%. Dow futures were recently up one point or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures rose seven cents this morning to US$96.28 a barrel. Spot gold was $2.50 stronger at US$1,618.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0441.
Nice recovery this morning considering how much the declines in TLS and CBA take off the index. Still, this rally is looking pretty mature now - another 60-80 points may mark a short-term top on the XJO, barring game-changing news. Thanks very much for the welcome back - nice to be appreciated. Been a low-key return to the market here, due in part to software issues and in part to various infections our youngest shared with me over the holiday. The boy is a biological hazard.
