Afternoon trading April 16

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares rallied for a second day as US futures shrugged off weekend airstrikes on Syria.

The ASX 200 rose 16 points or 0.3% to 5846 as regional markets traded mixed and S&P 500 futures advanced 7.7 points or 0.29%, easing fears of another downleg in global stocks after the US, UK and France hit targets in Syria, provoking angry reactions from Russia and Iran.

Energy stocks put on 1.1%, utilities 0.9% and metals & mining 0.7%. The consumer discretionary sector eased 0.1%.

The airstrikes "have thus far drawn only verbal condemnation from Russia... with Russia's prediction of 'global chaos' if the West hits Syria again not filling markets with fresh dread, at least judging from the limited foreign exchange market movements evident in the first two hours of the new trading week," Ray Attrill, head of foreign exchange strategy at NAB, told CNBC.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei pushed up 0.26%, while China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.87% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.16%.

Crude oil futures retreated from a three-year high, easing 57 cents or 0.85% this morning to US$66.82 a barrel. Gold futures edged up $2.20 or 0.16% to US$1,350.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 77.76 US cents.



Movements in crude and US futures suggest the market was factoring in something worse in Syria over the weekend than what eventuated. Something of a relief rally today. All that could change very quickly when geopolitics is driving market momentum. On the plus side, at least the trade tiff is off the front page. Trading: struggled for a second session to find an entry. Eventually took a tiddler, but it's dead in the water.