Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Enjoy your break, Oscar.
Half-time round-up:
The share market halted a seven-session losing run as bargain-hunters picked up battered tech and health stocks.
The ASX 200 overcame an initial 20-point dive to reach the halfway mark seven points or 0.1% ahead at 6151. The revival was led by the IT sector +1.2%, health +0.8% and energy +0.7%. The heavyweight materials and financial sectors dropped 0.1%.
Market sentiment was aided by a rebound in US equity futures despite Friday's soft close to the trading week. The S&P 500 shed 0.22% on Friday, but futures were lately ahead 6.05 points or 0.21%.
Asian markets remained under pressure as the White House showed no signs of wavering on plans to implement further tariffs on Chinese imports. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.94% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.24%. Japan's Nikkei was little changed at +0.03%.
“The overall sense is that the United States will continue to escalate the pressure until China submits to US demands which does not seem likely any time soon,” JPMorgan said in a note quoted on
Reuters. “Overall, the impact of tariffs and high levels of uncertainty will both continue to weigh on markets into the end of the year.”
Crude oil futures rose 46 cents or 0.68% this morning to US$68.21 a barrel. Gold futures drifted 30 cents or 002% to US$1,200.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.02 US cents.
Trading: been playing the waiting game all morning. Plenty of orders placed; no bites as yet. Watching CAG but would only consider much lower. Need a big safety net on that one, in my opinion.
