Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
A rare profit miss from CBA failed to prevent a second morning of gains for Aussie shares as mining stocks hit a seven-year peak.
The ASX 200 advanced 30 points or 0.5% to 6036 as Australian iron ore miners continued to benefit from Vale's troubles in Brazil. The local metals & mining sector rallied 1.3% to a level last seen in February 2012, boosted by a surge in iron ore prices since the Brazilian multinational was ordered to halt operations at some of its mines following the collapse of a tailings dam last week.
The rally in resource stocks offset a mild pullback in the big banks after yesterday's huge rally sparked by the release of recommendations from the Hayne Royal Commission into finance. The big four all lost ground this morning, CBA falling 1.75% after reporting a first-half profit that fell shy of expectations.
Among other companies reporting earnings this morning, insurer IAG put on 4.7% and Gemworth Mortgage 4.4%. Virgin rose 5.4% after announcing Paul Scurrah as the group's new CEO and MD.
Turning to the sectors, I.T. stocks advanced 2.7%, industrials 2.2% and the Small Ords 1.4%. The financial sector was lately down 0.3%, utilities 0.5% and health 0.25%.
US futures moved cautiously higher ahead of this morning's State of the Union address from President Donald Trump. S&P 500 futures were recently stronger by 2.75 points or 0.1%.
Most Asian markets remained closed for lunar New Year holidays. Japan's Nikkei improved 0.23%.
Crude oil futures bounced five cents or 0.1% this morning to $US53.71 a barrel. Gold futures eased $1.20 or 0.1%to $US1,318 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.74 US cents.
Natural to see the big banks to take a breather after that bumper rally yesterday. That was a big gulp to digest. The miners took up the slack, that ill wind from Brazil blowing some good. Trading: E2E was too tempting at 0.8c. Profit taken. Speculator taken in PIL when it came back to 1.7c - the heat in this sector suggests it should be more than a half-day wonder.
