Shares slowly shrugged off a political hangover this morning, touching a four-week low before turning cautiously positive.
The ASX 200 bottomed at 6231, its weakest reading since July 26, then clawed to a mid-session gain of ten points or 0.2% at 6257.
Domestic issues largely overshadowed positive leads from the US and solid gains in Asia. The S&P 500 in the US put on 0.62% on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reassured the market hat the economy remained strong enough to weather further rate hikes. This morning, S&P 500 futures advanced 5.8 points or 0.2%. China's Shanghai Composite added 0.63%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.4% and Japan's Nikkei 0.7%.
The big banks were the biggest drag on the local market, pulling the financial sector down 0.2% as the Royal Commission considered forcing banks to give up their superannuation divisions because of conflicts of interest. Also weighing on sentiment was the fear of a snap election following last week's change of Prime Minister. The consumer staples sector dropped 0.3%. Gold stocks improved 1.4%, IT 1% and metals and mining 0.7%.
Crude oil futures declined 15 cents or 0.22% this morning to US$68.57 a barrel. Gold futures gave up $1.80 or 0.15% to US$1,211.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.24 US cents.
Trading: squeezed a few pips out of NTC and managed a quarter pip (!) in 4DS using CommSec's centrepoint feature. Enjoyed the novelty but can't say a quarter pip adds up to much...
