Afternoon trading April 3

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market plumbed fresh five-month lows before reversing as US futures recovered from last night's horror session.

The ASX 200 hit its lowest point since mid-October, bottoming at 5725 before rebounding to 5763 and a mid-session gain of four points or 0.1%. The recovery followed a takeover offer for market heavyweight Santos and as US futures recovered from a brutal session that saw volatility surge as the major indices broke key technical support levels. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 9.75 points or 0.38%. Overnight, the index slumped 2.23%.

"This is definitely a flight to safety type of market," Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at Oakbrook Investments in the US, told Fairfax. "You're seeing people coming out of the stocks that had been performing well. There'd been various stories that momentum was extended in the market place, and I would say today's activity supports that trying to unwind a bit."

Asian markets lost ground this morning but falls were more restrained that those seen in the US. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.91%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.64% and Japan's Nikkei 0.88%.

Crude oil futures added 15 cents or 0.24% this morning to US$63.16 a barrel. Gold futures eased $4.60 or 0.34% to US$1,342.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.78 US cents.



Difficult market. There's an element of wait and see about today's ASX action. US earnings season is not too far off and may provide a steadying influence after a turbulent few weeks. However, last night's US session did a lot of technical damage, so it's hard to be too optimistic in the short term. Trading: took ARL on the third-day-reversal principle but paid more than needed. Coming good now. Also took a couple of snoozers that have gone nowhere. Exit for brokerage looking likely. All a bit ho-hum.