Afternoon trading February 8

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Australian shares climbed towards a second day of gains, boosted by trading updates from AGL, News Corp and Mirvac.

The ASX 200 rallied 42 points or 0.55% by mid-session. Guidance upgrades lifted AGL 11.65% and Cochlear 3.48%. Among other companies reporting, News Corp jumped 6.48%, Mirvac 5.61% and Charter Hall Long WALE 4.27%. Misses included REA Group -3.46% and Transurban -0.08%.

Wall Street scaled fresh highs overnight. The S&P 500 came within a hair's breadth of breaking 5,000 for the first time before closing 0.82% higher at 4,995.


Personal trading: Missed an entry to AKM at 15.5c by a handful of shares and that was as close as I got. Too cautious.