Afternoon trading November 3

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares bolted out of the blocks, reversing Friday's heavy loss as Asian markets and US futures welcomed an easing of US-China trade tensions.

The ASX 200 jumped 92 points or 1.6% to 5759 amid hopes a weekend agreement between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping marked a turning point in a trade war that has weighed on global markets this year. The White House agreed to postpone a tariff increase planned for next month while negotiators have 90 days to thrash out a trade deal.

“Markets are opening with a knee-jerk boost to risk appetite but time will tell how enduring the optimism proves to be,” ANZ economist Jo Masters told Reuters. “There are already very different official takes on what was achieved at the meeting... But for now, both sides can claim a win.”

US futures soared in response. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 41 points or 1.49%. Dow futures rallied 1.79% and Nasdaq futures 1.85%.

Asian markets also leaped higher. China's Shanghai Composite was lately up 2.01%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.92% andJapan's Nikkei 1.29%.

Here, energy stocks led the charge as crude gapped higher. The energy sector put on 3.4% as West Texas Intermediate futures climbed $1.90 or 3.73% to US$52.83 a barrel. The metals & mining sector advanced 2.9%, I.T. 2.5% and financials 0.9%.

Gold futures added $2.50 or 0.2%to US$1,228.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.5 US cents.

 

 

Trading: waited patiently for the pullback in RHT to 4c. Swung. Missed. Stubbornly refused to raise my bid. Yeah, that worked out well.