Thanks @Bowser. and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
Australian shares edged higher this morning as resource stocks responded to signs that a US-China trade deal remains on track.
The ASX 200 overcame an early wobble to advance 13 points or 0.2 per cent to 6665 by the middle of the session. The rise set the index on course for a second straight advance, following yesterday's late recovery.
An overnight push on Wall Street towards record levels primed the local market for a solid session. The S&P 500 rose 21 points or 0.69 per cent to within one per cent of the July record high after politicians and negotiators from the US and China talked up progress in trade talks.
A mixed market here saw gains in resource stocks, industrials and consumer staples outweigh declines in Telstra and Cochlear. Index heavyweight BHP hit a two-month low yesterday, but this morning rose 0.6 per cent on the promise of improved demand for raw commodities if the world's two largest economies patch up their trade differences. Diversified miner South32 gained 4.9 per cent and coal miner Whitehaven added 5.7 per cent. Rio Tinto put on 1.5 per cent.
Energy stocks made gains as crude rebounded from two-week lows. Brent crude ticked up 10 cents or 0.2 per cent this morning to $US59.06 a barrel. Beach Energy added 1.5 per cent, Santos 1.3 per cent and Woodside 0.1 per cent.
Treasury Wine Estates bounced 3.4 per cent a day after plunging 12 per cent on news well-regarded CEO Michael Clarke will stand down next year. Ardent Leisure jumped 16.4 per cent on takeover speculation after an unidentified party bought a block of 19 million shares in the amusement park operator at a 17 per cent premium to yesterday's close.
The session brought relief for investors in several of the beleaguered tech leaders. Afterpay rose for the first time in five sessions, gaining 1.2 per cent. Z1P rebounded 2.4 per cent from yesterday's four-week low. Wisetech remained in a trading halt as it prepared a response to yesterday's second salvo from China-based shortseller J Capital.
What's hot today and what's not:Hot today: UK banking group CYBG shone during a lacklustre morning for financial stocks after the company completed the takeover of Virgin Money and announced plans to rebrand under that name. Shares in the group hit a record low earlier this month as the Brexit deadline neared without a resolution. They jumped 7.6 per cent this morning despite another Brexit delay overnight as the Speaker in the House of Commons denied the government's request to vote on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's proposed deal. CYBG, which was spun out of NAB in 2016, is expected to rebrand as Virgin Money UK PLC by the end of the month.
Not today: health giant Cochlear receded further from its July all-time high after the company cut its earnings growth target. Chairman Rick Holliday-Smith reaffirmed the company's full-year net profit guidance of $290-$300 million at today's AGM. However, investors were unsettled by news the company was cutting its earnings per share target from 10 - 20 per cent compound growth over three years to 7.5 - 12.5 per cent over four years. The share price slid 4.1 per cent in response.
Asian markets crawled higher. China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng put on 0.1 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 0.25 per cent.S&P 500 index futures were recently ahead five points or 0.2 per cent.
Turning to commodity markets, gold futures eased $1.30 or 0.1 per cent to $US1,486.80 an ounce.On currency markets, the dollar inched ahead a tenth of a cent to 68.75 US cents.
Trading: as is so often the case if I had to score my morning's work I would give it an A+ for entries and a D for exits. In other words, I'm half a decent trader. Caught the lows in AQX and MLX but exited far too quickly. TWE coming good from yesterday, but my buy price was too high, so I need more tomorrow.
