Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
The ASX 200 has reclaimed the 6000 level for the first time since the financial crisis that saw the share market lose more than half its value over 16 harrowing months.
The benchmark index hit 6005 before paring its mid-session gain to 43 points or 0.7% at 5997 ahead of this afternoon's Reserve Bank rate announcement and Melbourne Cup. It took the index more than nine and a half years to regain a milestone last seen on the way down in February 2008 as the global economy began to unravel. The market's most recent attempt at this level, back in 2015, stalled at 5997.
Resource stocks led the latest up-leg, the metals & mining sector rising 2.1%, energy 2%, materials 1.7% and gold 1.2%. The financial sector added 0.4%.
Analysts said today's closing level will be dictated by the tone of this afternoon's rate announcement, due at 2.30pm EST.
"Direction today will dependent on the RBA board meeting," NAB strategists told
Fairfax. "Since the last meeting there have been two diverging trends. The first has been a continuation of very strong employment growth that has now seen the unemployment rate fall to 5.5 per cent. The second has been the general weakness in nominal retail sales combined with a subdued prices outlook as reflected in third-quarter consumer price inflation. How the RBA staff reconcile the divergence in their forecasts will be key to the outlook."
China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.37%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.82% and Japan's Nikkei 0.5%. Dow futures were recently up 18 points or 0.08%.
Crude oil futures eased 13 cents or 0.23% this morning to US$57.22 a barrel. Gold futures gave up $1.90 or 0.15% to US$1,279.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.89 US cents.
How many here were trading the last time the index was at 6000? My God, if we had only known in February 2008 what lay ahead of us. A huge clear-out of these threads, for one. Those were the longest 16 months of my trading life. Woke up each day wondering if the Dow had gone up 3% overnight or fallen 5%. Fortunes were made and lost in 24 hours. I was well up at times, deep in the red at others. Endless and I emerged from the other side like shipwreck survivors clinging to a broken mast on a turbulent sea. It's arguable that anyone who wasn't around then enjoys an advantage in this bull market because you never trade with the same cavalier spirit after an experience like that. Trading: bounce-traded GMC and SEG twice apiece.
