Afternoon trading December 29

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1, @Patterns and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

The last trading session of 2023 drifted towards a downbeat conclusion as hopes for a record close to mark the end of a positive year were dashed by overnight declines in commodity prices.

A day after closing 19 points from an all-time high, the ASX 200 eased 18 points or 0.24% by mid-session.

Resource stocks threw a brake on the record push following overnight weakness in oil, iron ore and metals. The materials sector dropped 0.5%. Energy gave up 0.6%.

In the US, the S&P 500's push towards record territory stalled just four points shy of the old high-water mark. The broadest of the major benchmarks finished 0.04% ahead, within touching distance with one trading session of 2023 left tonight.


Personal trading: Nothing doing. Placed a handful of speculative buy orders, but none got hit.