Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
A strong week for Aussie shares looked set to end with a fourth win from five sessions as resource stocks shrugged off reports of a Chinese ban on Australian coal.
The ASX 200 hit a fresh four-month high this morning, lately up 26 points or 0.4% at 6166. On a quieter day for corporate earnings, the big banks, utilities and consumer stocks provided most of the momentum. The financial sector put on 0.6%, consumer discretionary 1.2% and utilities 1.1%. That helped counter a 1.6% dive in energy stocks after the price of crude dipped overnight after a US government report showed domestic oil inventories increased for a fifth straight week.
The materials and metals & mining sectors edged higher despite reports out of China that customs authorities have blocked imports of Australian coal. Analysts speculated that such a ban might be a response to Australia's blacklisting of Chinese tech giant Huawei. However, the market appeared largely untroubled by the development, with Rio Tinto rising 0.3% and BHP trading barely changed.
Companies reporting this morning found investors in a forgiving mood. Automotive Holdings rose 6.5% to a three-month high despite scrapping its dividend and announcing a net loss after tax of $225.6 million. Undertaker Invocare was rewarded with a share price jump of 7.2% despite announcing a 57.7% decline in after-tax net profit, which the company put down in part to fewer people dying. The result was still better than analysts expected, which explains the reaction.
Online travel agent Webjet continued to soar after yesterday's well-received profit update, rising another 8.3% today. There was also some relief for shareholders in troubled theme park operator Ardent Leisure, which rallied 4.5% despite reporting a net after-tax loss of $21.8 million.
Bid Energy plunged more than 20% upon announcing the resignation of James Baillieu a day after he was replaced as chairman of the board of directors. Shares had lately recovered some of those losses, down 16% at $1.13.
Weak economic data helped halt an eight-session winning run on the Nasdaq in the US overnight. The tech index fell 0.39%, while the broader S&P 500 shed 0.35%. S&P 500 futures were recently off two points or 0.1%.
Asian markets followed Wall Street lower. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.11%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.48% andJapan's Nikkei 0.42%.
Crude oil futures slipped another 11 cents or 0.2% this morning to $US56.85 a barrel. Gold futures eased 80 cents or 0.1% to $US1,327 an ounce. The dollar was buying 70.88 US cents.
Trading: BID offered a good bounce opportunity if your timing was right. Mine could have been better. First buy was too early, second on the money. Sold half into the first rebound. Shoulda sold the lot.
