Afternoon trading December 6

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A slump in US futures ahead of the resumption of regular trade tonight helped drive Australian shares lower for a third day.

The ASX 200 dropped 27 points or 0.5% to 5641 but respected yesterday's intraday low at 5610. Hopes of a reversal after two days of heavy selling were dashed as US equity futures pointed to a weak start to US trade following last night's market holiday for the funeral of former president George H.W. Bush. S&P 500 futures were recently down 26 points or 0.96%. In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.84%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 2.23% andJapan's Nikkei 1.64%.

"Unfortunately until we get new news the market continues to be a cauldron of concerns causing caution with investors," Art Hogan, B. Riley FBR's chief market strategist, told CNBC. "With the combination of he said Xi said on China trade, a fear of an economic slowdown in 2019, and the slow trickle of Mueller investigation reports coming out, it is not at all surprising to see a buyer's strike in the after hours market."

Here, haven buying helped push utilities up 1.3% and consumer staples 0.2%. The metals & mining sector shed 1.5%, financials 1%, I.T. 1% and health 0.7%.

The market extended early falls following news that October trade figures were weaker than expected. Retail sales were in line with expectations.

Crude oil futures faded 19 cents or 0.36% this morning to US$52.70 a barrel. Gold futures rose $2.40 or 0.19%to US$1,245 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.39 US cents.

 

 

Trading: got GAS near enough to the low for a decent wage. In and out of UTR for brokerage. Waiting for a revenge trade in AGH, hopefully tomorrow after the short fundies have another pop tonight.