Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
Shares surged to a new six-month high following overnight reports that the US and China are on the verge of a trade deal.
The ASX 200 hit 6240, its highest level since early September, before trimming its advance to 37 points or 0.6% at 6230. The rally followed a Wall Street Journal report claiming a trade deal could be signed within weeks. The newspaper said a deal could be signed off by President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping as early as March 27. The US would remove sanctions on Chinese imports in exchange for China cutting tariffs on American imports. Read more here.
The report lit a fire under US equity index futures and helped lift Asian markets. S&P 500 futures were lately ahead 10.5 points or 0.4%. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.58%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.1% andJapan's Nikkei 0.82%.
Here, the heavyweight financial sector provided much of the momentum, rising 0.5% to a mark last seen in October. The sector came under pressure last year following a string of unseemly revelations at the Hayne Royal Commission, but has been in recovery since the commission handed down its recommendations last month.
Tech was another standout as traders snapped up shares in buy now, pay later companies such as Afterpay - up almost 7% earlier today - and Zip - up 8.5% to an eight-year peak. The tech sector gained 2.3%.
Agricultural chemical company Nufarm rallied 7.2% on an analyst upgrade and takeover speculation involving Wesfarmers. Baby formula producer Bellamys rose 7.3% towards a fourth straight rise since releasing its half-year result last week. Bingo Industries put on 7.1% as investors continued to applaud the ACC's decision to allow the waste management company's acquisition of rival Dial-a-Dump.
The Small Ords, a traditional measure of the market's appetite for risk, came within three points of cracking 2800 for the first time since early October, rising 0.9%.
Gold stocks missed the upswing, falling 3.1% after the precious metal ended its worst week since August with a drop below US$1,300 an ounce on Friday. The decline continued this morning, with gold futures lately off $1.80 or 0.1% to $US1,297.40 an ounce.
Crude oil futures rebounded 32 cents or 0.6% this morning to $US56.12 a barrel. The dollar was buying 70.87 US cents.
Turning to the week ahead, trade negotiations between the US and China will continue to dominate the headlines. China’s National People’s Congress commences its annual meeting tomorrow and may introduce legislature relevant to the trade talks. Also due from China this week are services activity numbers tomorrow and trade data on Friday. The US releases manufacturing and services figures tomorrow night, but the week's big-ticket item across the Pacific is the monthly jobs update on Friday. Back home, the Reserve Bank meets tomorrow and releases its revised rate outlook in the afternoon. Governor Philip Lowe is due to deliver a speech on the housing market on Wednesday ahead of the release of quarterly GDP figures. Finally, domestic retail and trade figures are due on Thursday.
Trading: decent morning crawling through the wreckage. Couple of pips from CLA, couple from 9SP, one from PRU. Wish every morning was as straightforward.
