The share market faded towards back-to-back losing weeks for the first time since September as the benchmark index once again failed to sustain early gains.
The ASX 200 rose 14 points in early action before sliding to a mid-session loss of six points or 0.1% at 6009. Barring a reversal, today will mark the ninth session in a row that the index has closed below its opening price. Two weeks of steady declines on the local market have come despite a run of record closes on Wall Street.
The primary culprits this morning were gold stocks -1.2%, telecoms -0.8%, metals & mining -0.5% and financials -0.2%. Pockets of strength included health stocks +0.8%, consumer staples +0.8% and utilities +0.3%.
Overnight, US stocks staggered under the threat of a possible government shutdown as temporary funding arrangements expire. The S&P 500 dipped 0.16%. However, S&P 500 futures had lately rallied 1.5 points or 0.05% ahead of tonight's deadline.
A mixed morning in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite up 0.44%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 0.17% and Japan's Nikkei up 0.36%.
Crude oil futures dropped 53 cents or 0.83% this morning to US$63.42 a barrel. Gold futures improved $3.10 or 0.23% to US$1,330.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying 80.09 US cents.
Some pretty heavy selling across selected spec stocks this morning. Fund manager taking profits? Feels like it. Not limited to a particular sector. Really don't like the way the XJO has behaved these last two weeks - very soft. My meerkat senses are tingling. Quick - back to the burrow. Trading: I tend to do well with pullbacks, and there were plenty of opportunities to squeeze pips this morning. Traded D13, SYA twice, AJM, DHR, ADV, LPI, RLC and CFE.
