Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
Australian shares shrugged off losses across Asia, rallying ahead of a Reserve Bank policy statement.
The ASX 200 rose for the first time in three sessions to reach the mid-point of the session 27 points or 0.4% stronger at 6205. Gains in consumer staples +1.3%, utilities +1.3%, telecoms +1.3% and financials +0.7% outweighed declines in metals & mining -1.4%, materials -1.1% and gold -0.6%. The Reserve Bank met this morning and is due to announce any change to the cash rate at 2.30pm EST.
The local market was an outlier as Asian markets continued to lose ground following yesterday's disappointing Chinese factory update. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng - closed yesterday for a public holiday - 2.87% and Japan's Nikkei 0.03%.
US stocks edged higher overnight. The S&P 500 added 0.31%. S&P 500 futures were recently off quarter of a point or 0.02%.
Crude oil futures jumped 65 cents or 0.88% this morning to US$74.59 a barrel. Gold futures eased 60 cents or 0.05% to US$1,241.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.41 US cents.
Disappointed the thread has yet to acknowledge the passing of a true rock'n'roll great overnight. That's right: Alan Longmuir of the Bay City Rollers left to join the great short-panted, tartan-trimmed band in the sky. Vale. (If you're young enough that none of that makes sense, well... count yourself lucky. Your parents lived through it.)
More here. Trading: low-key session. Took a couple of speculators in STX on pullback and KFE.
