Afternoon trading July 19

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Australian shares coasted to their highest in almost a month after a positive start to the US earnings season helped soothe valuation concerns.

The ASX 200 climbed 35 points or 0.49% by mid-session. Today's peak of 7333 was the highest since June 21. Energy stocks spearheaded gains, supported by financials, tech and REITs. Telecoms and materials were the morning's only drags.

Wall Street's main benchmarks closed at 15-month highs overnight as investors cheered earnings beats from several of the major banks. S&P 500 futures were this morning trading little changed, down 0.04% ahead of trading updates tonight from Tesla, Netflix and IBM.

Personal trading: A poor morning's work. Bought BTR for a second wave of buying that never eventuated. Result: gave back some of yesterday's profits. Recouped most of the loss by buying COB on retrace just below the round number.