Afternoon trading October 8

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market reversed three days of gains, retesting 16-week lows as Chinese share trade resumed with a 2% plunge after a week-long holiday.

The ASX 200 dived 56 points or 0.9% to 6129 mid-session as turmoil in the US bond market continued to infect global share trade. The metals & mining sector dropped 2.2%, materials 1.9% and the financial sector 0.9% to a new four-month low. The defensive gold sector was the only riser, adding 0.2%.  

US stocks fell on Friday as the prospect of higher interest rates fuelled a swift retreat from US treasuries. The S&P 500 lost 0.55% as evidence of rising wages added to the case for higher rates. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 1.65 points or 0.06% on hopes that the closure of bond markets tonight for Columbus Day will bring respite for stocks, with the share market open for trade.

Trade on China's Shanghai Composite resumed after the week-long Golden Week holiday, with a weekend decision to reduce bank reserve requirements failing to stop a 2% drop at open. Hong Kong's Hang Seng ticked down 0.08%. Trade on Japan's Nikkei was suspended for a public holiday.

“It is possible for the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets to recover from recent losses if investors can derive optimism based on the change to monetary policy,” Jonathen Chan, market analyst at CMC, told Reuters. "Expectations of a weaker Chinese yuan may help to lift market sentiment as well.”

Crude oil futures shed 53 cents or 0.71% this morning to US$73.81 a barrel. Gold futures drifted $4.20 or 0.35% lower to US$1,201.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 70.57 US cents.



Trading: challenging morning. Managed to scrape something out of CTP and CVN, but it's real subsistence trading.