Afternoon trading Oct 11

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares rose to a seven-week high this morning on the back of overnight gains in the US and a strengthening dollar.

The ASX 200 rallied 30 points or 0.5% to 5768 by the mid-point of the session after earlier touching 5778, a level last seen in August. Leading the rally were IT +1.8%, consumer discretionary +1.2% and utilities +1.2%. Metals & mining was the weakest of the sectors, losing 0.3%.

The dollar pushed briefly back above 78 US cents, lately buying 77.93 cents, as the greenback was pressured by news the US flew two Lancer bombers over the Korean peninsula yesterday in an apparent escalation of tensions. US stocks shook off the news, resuming their uptrend after a brief dip following Friday's disappointing jobs report. The S&P 500 put on 0.23%.

China's Shanghai Composite eased 0.02%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.3% and Japan's Nikkei 0.14%. Dow futures were recently ahead 11 points or 0.05%.

Crude oil futures added 15 cents or 0.29% this morning to US$51.07 a barrel. Gold futures gave up $2.60 or 0.2% to US$1,291.20 an ounce.


Trading: a morning of under-achievement. Got a wage from MTC, but should have snagged a few more.