Afternoon trading August 1

Thanks @Endless for filling in for @shovel40 this morning. Also @Fiji1 for keeping us fantasy-fed.

Half-time wrap:

The threat of a possible rate rise this afternoon failed to deter investors as gains in resource and tech stocks helped the share market edge towards a second straight advance.

The ASX 200 gained 24 points or 0.32% as the Reserve Bank met to decide whether to hike the cash rate target by another 25 basis points to 4.35% or sit on its hands for a second month. The central bank's decision will be announced at 2.30 pm AEST.

The materials sector set the pace, rising 1% after China's State Council announced fresh measures to support real estate, the services sector and car-making. Tech, energy and consumer stocks also rose. Industrials, healthcare providers and telcos dragged.

Today's rally followed modest gains in US stocks overnight ahead of trading updates this week from some of Wall Street's largest companies, as well as the July jobs report on Friday.

Personal trading: One of those mornings where I struggled to get a trade, then suddenly most of the hail-mary buy orders I'd placed got filled or at least part-filled. Since closed modest bounces in JLG, GNX and DUB. CAN and STA still open. Latter looks increasingly like a stinker.