Afternoon trading March 22

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Aussie shares surged to a two-week high today after Wall Street was boosted by signs of a freeze on rates.

The ASX 200 jumped 50 points or 0.8 per cent to 6217, positioning the index for its fourth weekly advance in five weeks. The market had struggled to make headway this week as long-running worries over Brexit and the US-China trade war weighed on global risk appetite for equities. However, last night Wall Street shook off the trade war blues after the Federal Reserve revised its economic outlook to exclude two rate hikes previously pencilled in for this year. The S&P 500 rallied 1.09 per cent and the Nasdaq 1.42 per cent as traders piled into tech companies.

Also helping sentiment this morning was news European leaders have thrown British Prime Minister Theresa May a lifeline for her twice-rejected Brexit deal. A summit of European Union leaders agreed to push out the deadline for the UK to leave the Union until at least mid-April, giving May a chance to win support for her exit package or find another way forward.

Here, the health sector led the advance, with index heavyweight CSL bouncing 2.1 per cent. All four big banks put on at least 0.6 per cent as the financial sector rose 0.9 per cent.

BHP struggled for traction as the share price neared overhead resistance at last month's eight-and-a-half year high. The Big Australian eased 0.1 per cent.

Small caps - a traditional measure of risk appetite - under-performed the broader market. The Small Ordinaries managed a meagre gain of just 0.1 per cent.

Gold stocks were the only significant drag on the index, the sector falling 3.2 per cent after Saint Barbara released a disastrous update on its Gwalia operation in WA. Shareholders fled for the hills after the company revealed production would be lower than anticipated and costs higher. Shares plunged by nearly a third, lately down 31.1 per cent. Other gold miners were also weak, including Saracen Mineral, down 4 per cent, Northern Star, down 3.2 per cent, and Regis Resources, down 3 per cent.

At the other end of the market, there was relief for Eclipx Group shareholders as the fleet manager rebounded 4.5 per cent after two days of heavy selling. Nufarm was also in recovery, rising 4.2 per cent towards a second day of gains following Wednesday's poorly-received half-year result.

Economic news was thin on the ground after yesterday's feast. The morning's major report showed manufacturing and services activity recovered this month after contracting in February, according to CBA's seasonally-adjusted Flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index. The index - which last month slumped to 49.7, the lowest reading in the measure's three-year history - bounced to 50 this month, a neutral level that indicates neither expansion nor contraction.

Asian markets were subdued. China's Shanghai Composite and Japan's Nikkei both dipped 0.1 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.6 per cent. S&P 500 futures were recently off three-quarters of a point or less than 0.1 per cent.

Crude oil futures were broadly steady at $US59.96 a barrel. Gold futures improved $2.31 or 0.2 per cent to $US1,309.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.02 US cents.

A quiet end to the week on overseas markets so far as scheduled news tonight is concerned. Europe releases manufacturing and services reports. Wall Street has a swag of second-tier reports coming, including manufacturing and services PMIs, house sales and wholesale inventories.

Trading: low-key session for me after yesterday's frantic scramble. Loaded up on 9SP yesterday and locked in some profit today. Still holding half. Wanted SPX at 2c, EM1 at 2.9c.