Afternoon trading March 26

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Aussie shares steadied near a four-week low as traders reacted to a flurry of deals and a flat close on Wall Street.

Calm returned to the local market after yesterday's volatile ride, the ASX 200 trading in a tight range either side of break-even. The benchmark index was lately down two points or less than 0.1 per cent at 6124.

While the overall market traded little changed, there were significant moves following announcements. Supermarket juggernaut Coles Group rallied 2.6 per cent to a one-month peak after striking an exclusive deal to use UK-based Ocado's robotic warehouse system for its Coles Online home delivery service. The company said the move will potentially double its home delivery capacity and improve profit margins.

The best return on the index came from investment manager Challenger Limited, which jumped 7.2 per cent on takeover speculation after announcing it had strengthened its strategic relationship with Japanese insurer MS&AD. The deal will see MS&AD increase its shareholding in Challenger, take a seat on the board and push more reinsurance business Challenger's way.

Less well-received was news Wesfarmers has launched an unexpected bid for rare earths miner Lynas Corporation. Shares in Wesfarmers sagged 4.2 per cent after the industrial conglomerate offered a 44.7 per cent premium to Lynas's last traded price. Shares in Lynas entered a trading halt to give the board time to consider the offer.

Looking at the sectors, traditional defensive assets gold and utilities were the standouts in a sign that market jitters persist after Friday's brutal sell-off on Wall Street. The gold sector put on 0.8 per cent, led by Saint Barbara, up 4.7 per cent, and Saracen Mineral, up 3 per cent. Utilities added 0.7 per cent.

The metals & mining sector rose 0.7 per cent towards its first gain in three sessions. At the other end of the scale, the consumer discretionary sector dropped 1.6 per cent and energy 1.4 per cent.

Overnight, US stocks closed mixed but barely changed. The S&P 500 eased less than 0.1 per cent, while the blue chips of the Dow edged up less than 0.1 per cent. US stock futures kicked higher this morning as Asian markets rebounded. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 6.25 points or 0.2 per cent.

In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite bounced 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.5 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 1.7 per cent.

Crude oil rebounded this morning. West Texas Intermediate futures rallied 45 cents or 0.8 per cent this morning to $US59.27 a barrel. Gold futures slipped $1 or 0.1 per cent to $US1,321.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.18 US cents.

Looking ahead to potential market-movers over the next 24 hours, Brexit is back in the headlines after British MPs this morning seized control of the exit process from the government. The UK Parliament is expected to hold a series of votes tonight on various options for moving forward. On the other side of the pond, the US has housing and consumer confidence scheduled for tonight.

Trading: slow morning. Struggled for ideas. Eventually took a speculator in LVH.