Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Happy Valentines Day, beautiful...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Happy Valentines Day, beautiful people - you're all looking great. What? Too cheesy? Tough crowd.


Half-time round-up:

Resource stocks kept the Aussie market moving higher as investors handed out as many brickbats as bouquets to companies reporting on Valentines Day.

The ASX 200 rallied eight points or 0.1% to 6072 by mid-session but remained stuck in the narrow trading range that has developed since the index peaked at 6106 last Thursday. Miners and oilers provided most of the momentum, the energy sector rising 2% and metals & mining 1% following overnight gains in copper and US crude. South32 was a standout, up 4.8% after announcing a special dividend. Woodside Petroleum rose 2.5% to a near-four-month high after declaring a full-year profit increase of 27.6%. 

A crowded morning for earnings updates saw bouquets for kitchen appliance maker Breville, up 19.4%, waste manager Cleanaway, up 10%, fund manager Magellan, up 8.7%, and property group Goodman, up 3.4%. But there were brickbats for beleaguered wealth manager AMP and Queensland financial services giant Suncorp.

Investors expected a bad result from AMP following the Royal Commission into finance, but saw further disappointment this morning when the company announced a meagre net profit of $28 million, down a whopping 97% from $848 million last year. Shares in the company fell 6.6%.

A string of natural disasters took their toll on Suncorp's half-year net profit, which sagged 44.7% to $250 million on an increase in insurance claims. Suncorp shares were lately down 3.9%.

Telstra started the session in the doghouse after reporting a drop in first-half profit. Chief executive Andy Penn said the company faced short-term challenges but had seen welcome growth in retail mobile services. Shares were lately off their lows but down 2.6%

Gold miner Newcrest closed yesterday at a 20-month high, but today eased 1.9% after revising down its reserves.

With earnings season in full swing, domestic issues overshadowed overseas developments. Overnight, Wall Street ticked higher, the S&P 500 rising 0.3% as traders continued to bet Chinese and US negotiators will find enough common ground to end a damaging trade dispute. S&P 500 futures inched higher this morning, recently up 2.25 points or 0.1%.

Asian markets were mixed but little changed. China's Shanghai Composite retreated 0.11% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.33%, while Japan's Nikkei put on 0.14%.

Crude oil futures improved 26 cents or 0.48% this morning to $US54.16 a barrel. Gold futures shed $3.80 or 0.29%to $US1,311.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.03 US cents.

 

 

Trading: it's all happening at the big end of town this week as earnings season rolls on. Means the brokers aren't as active in the specs. I couldn't find much today. Took LTR just above the CR price, but didn't get enough to matter.