Afternoon trading Dec 1

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A rebound in bank stocks helped the share market push briefly back above 6000 following fresh highs in the US overnight.

The ASX 200 reserve most of yesterday's losses to reach the halfway mark 25 points or 0.4% ahead at 5995 after earlier running as high as 6011. Investors waded back into bank stocks after sharp falls yesterday as the government announced a royal commission into the sector, pushing the financial sector up 0.4%. Also strong were energy stocks +1.7%, health +1.2% and materials +0.5%. Telecoms lost 0.6% and gold 0.1%.

US stocks closed at record levels overnight on signs the Republican Party is close to securing enough votes to pass a corporate tax cut. The Dow put on 1.39% to close above  24,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 added 0.82%. Dow futures took a hit this morning after a vote in the Senate was delayed until tonight, recently down 51 points or 0.21%.

A mixed morning in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite down 0.19%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.4% and Japan's Nikkei ahead 0.26%.

Crude oil futures were up four cents or 0.07% this morning to US$57.44 a barrel. Gold futures improved $1.90 or 0.15% to US$1,278.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 75.71 US cents.


A dive in US futures cooled the rally here but the cause appears to be a delay in a tax vote, rather than a derailment. Mind you, delays sometimes mean they don't have the numbers to get the vote through. All will be revealed. Trading: did I bring my A-game? I did not. Left it at last night's Xmas bash. (We knew it was getting late when the landlady went home and told us to lock the door behind us when we left. God, I love this town.) Managed part-fills in SGC and WBT. Slow end to a good week.