Political uncertainty undermined the share market for a third day as the prospect of a new Prime Minister continued to overshadow the reporting season.
The ASX 200 declined 21 points or 0.3% to 6244, extending the overall loss since Peter Dutton launched a surprise bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party beyond 100 points. The government this morning adjourned the House of Representatives until September 10 to deal with its leadership crisis. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was due to hold a press conference at 1pm EST.
A bright morning for the telecoms sector +3.5%, IT +1.6% and metals & mining +0.9% was cancelled out by falls in utilities -2.8%, gold -1.3% and financials -1.3%. The session included well-received earnings updates from S32, QUB, WTC, WEB, AWC and APO.
A directionless session in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite down 0.13%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 0.78% and Japan's Nikkei ahead 0.18%. S&P 500 futures were recently down 1.75 points or 0.06%.
Crude oil futures improved 19 cents or 0.28% this morning to US$68.05 a barrel. Gold futures turned down $5.70 or 0.47% to US$1,197.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.86 US cents.
Trading: got down and dirty with rapidfire trades in tumblers SSG and ISD. Got away with two wins but had to be nimble. SHO requiring more patience.
