Half-time wrap:
The share market pushed for its strongest two-day advance in three weeks after US stocks steadied ahead of potentially market-moving jobs figures tonight.
The ASX 200 climbed 30 points or 0.43% to 6955. Today's advance extended the index's recovery from Wednesday's 11-month closing low towards 1%. The index has managed back-to-back gains only once before during a torrid three weeks of near-constant down-pressure.
The big four banks provided most of today's momentum, gaining between 0.9 and 1.57%. Healthcare providers and miners also advanced. Property stocks, retailers and energy producers were among the major drags.
Overnight, Wall Street's main indices finished just below break-even and well off session lows as investors took to the sidelines before September employment data. Weak private payrolls data earlier in the week has raised hopes of a slowdown in the red-hot labour market that would alleviate pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep raising rates. The S&P 500 closed 0.13% in the red.
Personal trading: Took S2R on retrace, plus a tiddler that has traded once since I bought it. Grrr. The hardest thing about these trading conditions is the sheer apathy. Too much of the market is behaving like a teenager asked to clean its room.
