Shares retreated as caution prevailed ahead of this afternoon's Reserve Bank rate statement and tonight's US market reaction to North Korea's weekend atomic test.
The ASX 200 was down 21 points or 0.4% at 5681 at the halfway point after falling as much as 36 points in early trade. Utilities and IT were the biggest weights, falling 2.1% and 0.9%, respectively. The financial sector gave up 0.6%. Gold was the best of the sectors for a second day, rising 1.2%, ahead of metals & mining +0.4%.
Local investors had limited leads with trade on Wall Street suspended overnight for the US Labor Day public holiday. US equity futures remained near yesterday's lows as investors waited to see how the market absorbs North Korea's decision to test a hydrogen bomb over the weekend. Dow futures were recently down 63 points or 0.29%. S&P 500 futures were off eight points or 0.33%.
Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite improved 0.04% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.21%, while Japan's Nikkei retreated 0.47%.
Gold extended its bull run. US gold futures were lately up $11.50 or 0.86% to US$1,341.90 an ounce. Crude oil futures added 12 cents or 0.25% at US$47.41 a barrel. The dollar was buying 79.69 US cents.
Trading: tricky morning. Lovely rebound trade in NET offset by challenging trades in RAP and RLE. Still time for both to come good, but I prefer it when the coins come quickly.
