Afternoon trading April 18

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Aussie shares rallied for the first time in six sessions as rebounding iron ore and industrial metal prices helped investors look past another losing night on Wall Street.

The ASX 200 bounced 48 points or 0.63% by mid-session. Mining, industrial and bank stocks led the advance.

A five-week high in iron ore helped BHP and Rio Tinto gain at least 2%. Fortescue Metals. South32 and NAB were also strong.

Mid-morning March jobs data failed to derail the rally. The jobless rate ticked up from 3.7% to 3.8% as total employment declined by 6,600 jobs.

Wall Street's dire run continued overnight with the Dow falling for the 11th time in 13 sessions and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq falling for a fourth straight night. The S&P 500 lost 0.58%.


Personal trading: Not a sniff all morning. Sheesh.