Afternoon trading Sep 13

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares pushed towards a possible third straight gain for the first time in four weeks after the revived prospect of tax cuts drove Wall Street to record levels overnight.

The ASX 200 rallied 15 points or 0.3% to 5761 by the halfway mark as traders picked up metals & mining stocks +0.8%, gold +0.7% and financials +0.5%. A mixed market saw falls in telecoms -1.3%, utilities -0.6% and consumer discretionary -0.4%.

The local index rallied since the start of the week as tensions on the Korean peninsula dissipated and Hurricane Irma caused less damage than initially feared. US stocks got a further boost overnight after  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said President Trump remained committed to passing his proposed tax cuts by year-end and the cuts could be backdated to the start of the year.

"We're going to get this done by the end of the year," Mnuchin told CNBC.

The S&P 500 rose 0.34% overnight to a new record close. This morning, China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.46%. Japan's Nikkei put on 0.47%. Dow futures were recently off 14 points or 0.06%.

Crude oil futures inched ahead one cent or 0.02% this morning to US$48.24 a barrel. Gold futures recovered $3.30 or 0.25% to US$1,336 an ounce. The dollar was buying 80.3 US cents.


This rally looks to be running out of puff as the session goes on. The index is certainly honouring its recent trading range. Trading: short of ideas this morning. Tentative first dabble in RFN as it retraces towards the CR price.