Thanks Oscar and morning crew.Half-time round-up:A sharp...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A sharp downturn in US equity futures helped push the ASX towards a third straight loss.

The ASX 200 slumped 48 points or 0.8% to 5857 mid-session as traders dumped energy stocks -2,7%, utilities -1.8%, health -1% and financials -1%. A close around these levels would be the benchmark index's second lowest in six months. Bucking the downtrend were I.T +0.3% and consumer discretionary +0.1%

US futures dived at the start of Asian trade this morning. S&P 500 futures were recently off 12.75 points or 0.46% after earlier falling more than 0.5%. China's Shanghai Composite extended two days of dramatic gains with a rise of 0.16% in early action. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.67% andJapan's Nikkei 1.48%.

“Global financial markets continue to struggle to rally as various geopolitical concerns weigh on investor confidence,” Nick Twidale, chief operating officer at Rakuten Securities Australia, told Bloomberg. “Investors will be very keen to see if [Chinese shares] can maintain the stellar run that they’ve experienced over the last couple of days. With the rest of the world looking much more pessimistic in the current environment there could be a firm correction on the cards,”

Crude oil futures eased three cents or 0.04% this morning to US$69.34 a barrel. Gold futures added $1.80 or 0.15%at US$1,226.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 70.69 US cents.

Couldn't find anything specific on the news wires to explain the dive in US futures. Trading: POH came good from yesterday, thanks to some news. Took the exit opportunity. Also scraped a couple of pips from MYE.