Afternoon trading July 19

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Stocks rallied for a second day as the improved global mood boosted Asian markets.

The ASX 200 advanced 22 points or 0.3% to 6267, reaching break-even for the week after erasing losses on Monday and Tuesday. A mixed market this morning saw gains in industrials +1%, financials +0.5% and materials +0.5% outweigh declines in the gold sector -1.4%, utilities -1.1% and energy -0.3%.

Asian markets took their cues from a cautiously positive session on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 put on 0.22% as the local earnings season sidelined concerns over trade tariffs. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.03%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.26% and Japan's Nikkei 0.3%. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 0.75 points or 0.03%.

"The S&P 500 hit a five-month high and the Dow rose for a fifth consecutive session on Wednesday as solid earnings boosted financial and industrial stocks and reinforced expectations for a strong second-quarter reporting season," IG Markets analysts told Fairfax.

Crude oil futures inched up 10 cents or 0.15% this morning to US$68.86 a barrel. Gold futures dipped $3.70 or 0.3% to US$1,224.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 74.25 US cents.



Pat yourself on the back if you're carving out a quid in these conditions. Slim pickings. I thought QBL was worth a look on pullback, but its recent trading history is a deadweight on the sp. Hasn't budged. Placed a few other orders but there's very little movement.