The share market's lacklustre start to the year continued with uncertainty over a US government shutdown helping push the benchmark index towards a fifth straight loss.
The ASX 200 this morning followed what for traders has become a familiar pattern over the last fortnight of giving up early gains by the halfway point, lately down nine points or 0.1% at 5997. The index finished last week with back-to-back weekly losses for the first time since September.
The big banks were the main culprits in a mixed market where gains in consumer staples +1%, gold +0.9% and telecoms +0.7% were outweighed by declines in financials -0.7%, utilities -0.3% and energy -0.2%.
US equity futures deteriorated following the commencement of the latest US federal government shutdown on Friday, however losses were mild. Dow futures were recently off 38 points or 0.15%. S&P 500 futures were down 2.75 points or 0.1%.
"The shutdown in the US looks set to dominate market attention this week," ANZ Research told CNBC. "It is likely to result in plenty of noise, but no dramatic shifts in trends."
In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.13%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.27% and Japan's Nikkei 0.22%.
Crude oil futures rallied 10 cents or 0.16% this morning to US$63.47 a barrel. Gold futures edged down $1.30 or 0.1% to US$1,331.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 79.87 US cents.
The US government shutdown offered the ASX a convenient reason to drift lower yet again. We've been through these stand-offs a lot over the years and the usual pattern is that they provide some downward pressure for the first few days, then the market moves on. In other words, it's no major cause for concern. Gold - an obvious haven if there were real concerns - has barely budged. That said, we're seeing some heavy profit-taking among selected specs again today. I hope short-term traders are honouring their stop-losses. Letting your losses run is a surefire way to migrate from day trading to long-term investing. Trading: another busy morning nipping in and out at lows. Traded ZYB three times, 4CE, LKE, LPI and RLC. Added AAJ.
