Afternoon trading March 15

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market's losing run extended into a third session as the Royal Commission pressured bank stocks and the White House talked tough on China.

The ASX 200 slipped 23 points or 0.4% to 5913, unwinding the remainder of last week's gains. The index peaked at 6026 on Monday and subsequently declined as fears of a trade war lingered.

US stocks lost ground overnight as retail sales missed expectations and President Trump's new chief economic advisor flagged a "coalition of the willing" to confront China over its trade practices.

"The United States could lead a coalition of large trading partners and allies against China, or to let China know that they're breaking the rules left and right," Larry Kudlow, the new director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC. "That's the way I'd like to see. You call it a sort of a trade coalition of the willing."

The S&P 500 lost 0.57% overnight.  This morning S&P 500 futures shed 4.5 points or 0.16%. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.17%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.73% and Japan's Nikkei 0.72%.

Back home, the financial sector headed for a third straight loss, lately down 0.9% as the Royal Commission continued to shine a spotlight on banking practices. Also weak were energy stocks -1%, telecoms -0.9% and utilities -0.4%. The metals & mining sector edged up 0.3%.

Crude oil futures gained 11 cents or 0.18% this morning to US$61.07 a barrel. Gold futures tacked on $1.90 or 0.14% to US$1,327.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 78.75 US cents.


Trading: there were a few quick bounce opps this morning in the likes of ASN, PMY and AEE. Dallied too long on the first two but caught AEE for a couple of pips. Also got a pip from RDN.