Afternoon trading August 1

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares hovered for a second day just below a decade high as declines in bank stocks offset gains in miners.

The ASX 200 surrendered early gains to reach the halfway mark a single point or less than 0.1% ahead at 6281. Gold stocks put on 0.8%, metals & mining 1%, materials 0.9% and health 0.5%. The financial sector retreated 0.7%, energy 0.4% and utilities 0.4%.

Most Asian markets followed Wall Street higher amid reports that the US and China were working behind the scenes to avoid a trade war. China's Shanghai Composite added 0.04% and Japan's Nikkei 0.53%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.14% S&P 500 futures were recently down 2.25 points or 0.08%. Overnight, the S&P 500 improved 0.49%.

"Markets took some relief on news that trade talks between the US and China could be back on the menu as the US gears up to impose tariffs on another US$16 billion of Chinese imports — a move that will likely be met with an equal-sized retaliatory measure by China," ANZ Head of FX Research Daniel Been told CNBC.

Crude oil futures fell 40 cents or 0.58% this morning to US$68.36 a barrel. Gold futures shed $2.20 or 0.18% to US$1,231.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 74.12 US cents.