Afternoon trading May 17

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Aussie shares succumbed to profit-taking at the end of a week where interest rate optimism swept the market back towards record levels.

The ASX 200 declined 46 points or 0.59% by mid-session. The reversal unwound more than a third of yesterday's 1.65% surge, which came as soft jobs data and US inflation figures stoked hopes that rates will fall before year-end here and in the US.

Ten of eleven sectors fell this morning. Healthcare, property and tech stocks were the heaviest drags. Mining stocks resisted the sell-down following overnight gains for iron ore, copper and nickel.

Wall Street took a breather overnight following Wednesday's round of record closes for the major benchmarks. The S&P 500 set a new intraday high before fading to a loss of 0.21%.


Personal trading: Took a small hit on STX at the open from yesterday when no buyers showed up. Glad I did - insto sellers in total control this morning, as they were yesterday. Won't touch that one again. Nothing else caught my attention.