Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
Progress in US-China trade talks helped Aussie shares start the week on the front foot, inching towards a potential sixth gain from seven sessions.
The ASX 200 rallied six points or 0.1% to 6174 after US President Donald Trump announced a delay on tariff increases on Chinese imports due to come into force at the end of this week. President Trump tweeted that trade talks had made "substantial progress" and his administration would hold off on plans to raise tariffs from 10% to 25% on March 1. The news fuelled a rally in US equity futures and boosted sentiment across Asian markets. S&P 500 futures in the US jumped 11 points or 0.4%.
Australian gains were capped by overhead technical resistance around the 6200 level and by another slew of earnings updates as the domestic reporting season continued this morning.
Property group Lendlease was among the drags, falling 4.4% after reporting a whopping 96.3% slump in first-half profit. The company said it was looking at options to rid itself of its troubled engineering business. Childcare centre operator G8 Education fell 11.8% after reporting a an 11.6% decline in full-year profit.
The day's winners included Bluescope Steel, up 7.1% after improved steel prices and a weaker dollar helped the company increase its first-half profit by 42% to $624.3 million. Insurance heavyweight QBE rose 2.8% to an 18-month high on news that cost-cutting and divestments helped the company turn 2017's $US1.2 billion net loss into a net profit after tax of $US390 million.
I.T. was the pick of the sectors, rising 2.9% following a well-received earnings update from artificial intelligence company Appen and news that a Senate enquiry has recommended that Afterpay and other buy-now-pay-later companies should remain exempt from the Credit Act. Shares in Afterpay jumped 19.5% to a five-month high. Fellow provider Z1p Co rallied 8.7% to an all-time peak.
Asian markets were boosted by the trade news. China's Shanghai Composite jumped 1.58%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.38% andJapan's Nikkei 0.68%.
Crude oil futures rose 12 cents or 0.2% this morning to $US57.38 a barrel. Gold futures were flat at $US1,332.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.58 US cents, up almost half a cent from Friday's close.
Turning to the week ahead, trade talks between China and the US are set to continue in Washington. Also in the US, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to testify before Congress for two days starting tomorrow night. President Trump is due to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday in Vietnam for two days of talks. While the US reporting season is winding down, reports are due here this week from the likes of Rio Tinto, Caltex and Healthscope.
Trading: speculator in GSW when it got below 30c. High risk. Stalking a few more.
