Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1, @uncleBuck, @JohnI and morning crew....

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1, @uncleBuck, @JohnI and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Australian shares pushed towards a second day of gains following a strong night for key commodities and news that the US and Japan had struck a trade deal.

The ASX 200 rallied 51 points or 0.58% by mid-session.

A five-month high in iron ore helped lift Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue between 0.96% and 1.88%. A 2% increase in quarterly production lifted Woodside 1.39%. The major banks turned higher, a day after three of the big four slumped to their lowest levels in at least seven weeks.

Japanese stocks surged after the White House announced it had reached terms with Japan that include a 15% tariff on Japanese imports, down from a threatened 25%. The Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.75%.

Wall Street's major stock benchmarks closed mixed overnight as earnings season rolled on and the countdown to the Trump administration's self-imposed August 1 trade deal deadline ticked down. The S&P 500 and Dow posted modest gains of 0.06% and 0.4%, respectively. The Nasdaq shed 0.39%.


Personal trading: The ball hasn't been coming onto the bat with the same fluency this week. Hope this doesn't prove to be an inflexion point in the specs. Recent armchair ride has been highly enjoyable. Chipped a chunky half pip from ARU this morning and took BOE near the low.