Afternoon trading June 4

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

Half-time wrap:

Australian stocks climbed to within 1% of an all-time high as iron ore rebounded and soft economic growth figures bolstered the case for more interest rate cuts.

The ASX 200 rallied 64 points or 0.76% by mid-session to 8531.

Resource stocks led the push following overnight strength in oil and a recovery this morning in iron ore. Benchmark ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was lately up 0.71%, lifting BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue.

The market added to its gains after a mid-morning report showed the economy grew an anaemic 0.2% last quarter - down from 0.6% in Q2 and half the 0.4% growth forecast by economists. Annual growth slowed to 1.3%.

"Adds to the case that further easing is required," tweeted Alex Joiner, chief economist at IFM Investors.

US stocks rose overnight ahead of tonight's interim deadline for the White House to receive trade "best offers" from other nations. The S&P 500 climbed 0.58%.


Personal trading: Can't say I was swamped with ideas this morning. Took a first nibble at IIQ when the gap closed. Only other buy was MCY (up 4.6% in NZ today, down 5.7% here. Go figure.)