Afternoon trading April 24

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market pushed to its highest level in a month as a flat night on Wall Street failed to derail the April "stealth rally".

The ASX 200 advanced 31 points or 0.5% to 5917 as the big banks rallied for a second day, offsetting falls in resource stocks. The financial sector put on 1% after yesterday breaking an eight-session losing run. Also strong: consumer discretionary +1.7%, consumer staples +1.2% and health +1.1%. The metals and mining sector shed 1.7% and materials 1.6%.

The benchmark index plumbed a six-month low on the opening session of the month but has since gained steadily in small bites, taking three and a half weeks to advance 160 points.

Overnight, key US indices closed mixed but little changed as investors awaited fresh catalysts. The S&P 500 closed narrowly positive at +0.01%, while the Dow was in the red at -0.06%. S&P 500 futures were recently up 6.25 points or 0.23%.

"With the indices in the middle of the volatile range of the past three months, it is simply a market awaiting its next 'fix'," IG analysts Ilya Spivak and John Kicklighter told Fairfax. "Perhaps that catalyst will be a Trump tweet, revival of the trade war, key economic indicator (like Friday's 1Q US GDP) or one of the key earnings reports due this week."

Asian markets kicked higher. China's Shanghai Composite tacked on 1.84%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.08% and Japan's Nikkei 0.67%.

Crude oil futures put on 29 cents or 0.42% this morning to US$68.93 a barrel. Gold futures recouped $4.60 or 0.35% to US$1,328.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.04 US cents.



Last week was a struggle, but this week has offered an easy bounce trade each morning. Yesterday ISU, today IAM. SBR obviously paid off for momentum seekers. Watched a few more but didn't get an entry.