Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Enjoy your break, @Cleo - well deserved.
Half-time round-up:
The share market remained on track for a weekly loss, surrendering early gains this morning as key Asian markets turned lower.
The ASX 200 fell seven points or 0.1% to 6234 by the halfway mark after earlier running as high as 6270. Losses in the index's two heavyweight sectors - metals & mining -1% and financials -0.7% - outweighed gains in IT stocks +1.8%, health +0.6%, consumer discretionary +0.6% and industrials +0.5%. A mostly directionless week soured yesterday, leaving the index well short of the 6300 target to secure a third straight positive weekly finish.
The mood on Asian markets deteriorated as the morning progressed. China's Shanghai Composite was last off 0.69% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.37%. Japan's Nikkei clung to a gain of 0.14%. S&P 500 futures were recently off 1.75 points or 0.06%.
Crude oil futures were unchanged at US$68.96 a barrel. Gold futures shed $4.30 or 0.35% to US$1,215.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.62 US cents.
Trading: I got out of bed for this? Closest I came to a trade was AVZ at 11c - right price level, but too far down the queue to get filled. Fridays have not always been this hard.
