Afternoon trading March 27

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares slid to a five-week low after a positive close on Wall Street failed to settle jangled investor nerves.

The ASX 200 ignored solid overnight leads, falling 25 points or 0.4 per cent to 6105, a level last seen in the second half of February. Selling was indiscriminate, encompassing every sector except I.T., which rallied 0.7 per cent as sector leaders Appen and Xero bucked the downtrend.

The rest of the market action showed the threat of a recession in the US remained top of investors' minds following Friday's so-called 'bond yield-curve inversion', a red flag for technical traders. Overnight, US stocks staged a tepid rebound but remained well below their level prior to Friday's plunge. The S&P 500 rose 0.72 per cent. After-hours trading left S&P 500 futures little changed, lately down a quarter of a point or less than 0.1 per cent.

Here, the financial sector dropped 0.4 per cent to a one-month low as all four big banks shed at least 0.3 per cent. WBC paced losses with a fall of 1 per cent.

Salmon farmer Tassal Group tumbled 7.7 per cent after ABC radio reported on a listeria outbreak detected in fish from the company's Tasmanian operation last month.

Wesfarmers lost further ground after takeover target Lynas Corporation rejected the industrial conglomerate's overtures. Shares in Wesfarmers eased 0.2 per cent after Lynas said it would not engage with its suitor's highly conditional $1.5 billion offer. Lynas shares were lately up 2.4 per cent.

Eclipx Group was the pick of the index, bouncing 19.3 per cent after confirming it retains the support of its financiers and remains within its debt covenants. The fleet manager had lost more than two-thirds of its value over the last week following a trading update that raised more questions than it answered.

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite put on 0.4 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.1 percent, while

Japan's Nikkei gave up 0.7 per cent.

Oil poked its head back above $US60 a barrel overnight but struggled to sustain the advance. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were lately down eight cents or 0.1 per cent at $US59.98 a barrel. Gold futures edged up $2.50 or 0.2 per cent to $US1,323.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.11 US cents.

Looking ahead, the British parliament will tonight start to consider alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May's exit plan from the European Union. The process is expected to continued well into next week. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is due to deliver a speech this evening. Wall Street has a few second-tier economic reports to consider, including the trade balance and crude oil inventories.

Trading: dipped a toe in TGR when it got below $2.60. CEO says the listeria outbreak is not material. Small dabble in PME below $15.