Thanks Oscar and morning crew.Half-time round-up:The share...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market advanced towards a fifth straight win after BHP announced a special dividend and NAB's full-year profit met expectations. 

The ASX 200 rallied 29 points or 0.5% to 5860, extending the market's rebound from Friday's 20-month low beyond 230 points. The metals & mining sector led the way, rising 2.3% as investors welcomed news that index heavyweight BHP will return the proceeds of its US shale asset sale to investors. BHP was lately up 3.9%.

The financial sector rose 0.4% as NAB bounced 1.5% as its full-year profit offered no nasty surprises. Other pockets of strength included I.T. +2.2%, health +1.1% and the Small Ords +0.9%. Telecoms fell 1% and energy 0.5%.

Also helping sentiment were upbeat US equity futures. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 7.25 points or 0.27%. China's Shanghai Composite put on 0.6% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.07%. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4%.

Crude oil futures slipped another 23 cents or 0.35% this morning to US$65.08 a barrel. Gold futures advanced $4 or 0.33%to US$1,219 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.14 US cents.

Trading: had the good fortune to hold RAC overnight after failing to get a pip out of it yesterday. Some days - not often, mind - pure luck is on your side. Another time it might just as easily be a profit warning. Plenty of volatility in 3DP - in and out twice.