The ASX trimmed yesterday's gains despite overnight gains on Wall Street and a Reserve Bank policy statement this afternoon.
The ASX 200 slipped 26 points or 0.4% to 6247 by mid-session as advances in energy +0.6% and health +0.1% were outweighed by declines in telecoms -1.7%, materials -1.2%, consumer discretionary -1.1% and financials -0.3%.
The Reserve Bank met this morning, but is widely expected to leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.5% when it releases its monthly rate policy statement at 2.30pm EST.
Traders were unmoved by a fifth night of gains on the Nasdaq, which put on 0.61% overnight to top the major index gains. The S&P 500 added 0.35%. S&P 500 futures were recently up 0.75 points or 0.03%. China's Shanghai Composite tacked on 0.34%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.43% and Japan's Nikkei 0.24%.
Crude oil futures edged up three cents or 0.04% this morning to US$69.04 a barrel. Gold futures were flat a US$1,217.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.91 US cents.
Trading: spent the first hour juggling falling knives. NEU, ECX. Got out of both with all my fingers and a little pocket change, but won't pretend it was lucrative. Sometimes they bounce hard, other times you have to graft for a few coins. Had to double dip on NEU. ECX gave a brief opening bounce. Big picture: overall, the spec market feels healthier this last week than it has for a few months. My watchlist has reinflated after shrinking to its lowest in years.
