Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
Shares edged higher for a second day but failed to build on strong leads as the Royal Commission into finance exerted downward-pressure on the big banks.
The ASX 200 touched 5913 before trimming its gain to 17 points or 0.3% at 5904 mid-session. The I.T. sector led the rally following yesterday's well-received earnings update from Apple, lately up 2.6%. The metals & mining sector surged 1.3% to an eight-month peak on the back of stronger iron ore prices. The Small Ords was another standout, rising 1.1%.
Telecoms continued to unwind Tuesday's bumper gains, falling 1.5%. The heavyweight financial sector was the biggest drag on the index, declining for a third straight day ahead of Monday's after-market release of recommendations from the Royal Commission, lately off 0.3%.
The rally fell short of expectations raised after US stocks were buoyed by a statement from the Federal Reserve that it will "be patient" on raising rates. The change in tone from the central bank helped push the S&P 500 up 1.55% and the Nasdaq 2.2%.
"The statement suggests that the next move in official interest rates could be up or down — a significant departure from previous signalling of further gradual rate hikes," CBA analysts said in a note quoted on CNBC. "Our view remains that the strength of the US economy supports moving the Fed Funds target rate a little further into the neutral‑range of around 2.5%‑3.5% over the course of 2019. But the risk is less tightening, rather than more tightening. We also continue to expect the start of a monetary policy easing cycle in 2021."
Chinese manufacturing activity contracted in line with expectations, but services data beat the consensus outlook. The official January manufacturing purchasing managers' index came in at 49.5, an uptick from December's 49.4 but below the 50-point level that separates contraction from expansion. The services PMI rose from 53.8 last month to 54.7. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.46%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.85% andJapan's Nikkei 0.76%. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 2.75 points or 0.1%.
Crude oil futures gained 40 cents or 0.74% this morning to US$54.63 a barrel. Gold futures climbed $8.30 or 0.63%to US$1,323.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.52 US cents.
Trading: rough day yesterday, but returned to the winners' circle today after being handed a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card for 4DS. Got caught out by the scale of yesterday's fall and was mightily relieved to cash in today. Have had a few overnight holds go the other way lately, so I was due.
