Afternoon trading August 22

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares retreated for a second day as political turmoil on both sides of the Pacific dampened buyer interest.

The ASX 200 fell 28 points or 0.4% to 6256 by mid-session as political analysts predicted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will face another leadership challenge and across the pond legal trouble for the Trump presidency drove US equity futures lower.

Five days of gains for the benchmark local index have evaporated in a session and a half since Peter Dutton launched his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party yesterday morning. Dutton was this morning reported to be canvassing colleagues for a second bid for the leadership following yesterday's failure.

US futures deteriorated after courts delivered a double blow to the White House. S&P 500 futures were recently down 7.25 points or 0.25% following news that President Donald Trump's personal lawyer and campaign manager both faced jail terms. Read more here.

China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.42%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.18% and Japan's Nikkei 0.46%.

The damage to the local market might have been heavier if not for a huge surge in the telecoms sector, up 5.6% on buying interest in Telstra. Also shining were IT stocks, up 3.9% and consumer staples +0.4%. Utilities sagged 1.8%, financials 1.2% and materials 1%.

Crude oil futures put on 29 cents or 0.44% this morning to US$66.13 a barrel. Gold futures added $2.10 or 0.17% to US$1,202.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.44 US cents.


Trading: slow morning here. Bought the pullback in SFG but may need a day or two to come good.