Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
Aussie shares shrugged off soft overseas leads and disappointing GDP figures after the governor of the Reserve Bank appeared to rule out a rate rise this year.
The benchmark index rallied 27 points or 0.4% to 6226 despite mild losses on Wall Street and news that the economy lost momentum in the run-up to Christmas. Figures released this morning showed growth in gross domestic product eased to 0.2% last quarter from 0.3% during the previous three months. The result fell well short of the 0.5% figure predicted by economists.
The stock market was ahead prior to the data release and extended its gains, perhaps in the belief that slowing growth adds to the case for keeping interest rates low, which is broadly positive for most stocks. Earlier Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe told a business summit he found it "hard to think of a scenario where interest rates would need to go up this year". Inflation pressures were benign and wage growth was subdued. Provided inflation remains low, interest rates are likely to stay where they are, he said.
The speech and the GDP data were a double whammy for the dollar, which fell almost a third of a cent to 70.6 US cents.
The materials sector provided much of the upward momentum today, rising 0.9% as BHP and Rio Tinto both made headway. Industrials put on 0.7% and the financial sector 0.4%.
There was some relief for long-suffering shareholders in Myer, which jumped 11.6% after announcing a return to profit. The department store group, which last year announced a $476 million full-year loss as it wrote down the value of its stores, this morning declared a $38.4 million half-year net profit. While sales continued to fall, investors were heartened by a decrease in the rate of decline from 3.6% to 2.3%.
Baby-food maker Bubs rose 18.3% after announcing it had found a Chinese partner to distribute its product in China. And rival Bellamy's continued to bask in the reaction to its half-year profit, rising another 6.4% this morning to a six-month peak.
US equity futures retreated following a choppy, directionless session overnight as traders awaited fresh news on trade talks with China. The S&P 500 ended the night 0.11% in the red. Index futures continued lower this morning and were recently down seven points or 0.25%.
Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite improved 0.35% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.71%.
Crude oil futures retreated this morning, lately down 48 cents or 0.9% in the US at $US56.08 a barrel. Gold futures went the other way, rising $4.10 or 0.3% to $US1,288.80 an ounce.
Potential market-movers over the next 24 hours include the National People’s Congress in China, which could bring fresh measures to stimulate the economy. The US releases trade and employment data tonight. And a busy week for domestic economic news tomorrow brings trade and retail sales updates.
Trading: one of those frustrating mornings where at 10.30 I had three trades moving in the right direction and ten minutes later they had all turned to mush. I'm now stuck in my defensive trading stance (picture a young Bruce Lee, only Scottish). FWIW, the three shares were SYA, CLA and SIL. I suppose I should say something rampy to encourage some other poor fool to take them off my hands. Em, toot toot? Train leaving the station? Going to the moon? Seatbelts on? Arvo rally? Free steak knives?
