Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: The share...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market looked poised to end an eight-session losing streak following overnight gains on Wall Street.  

The ASX 200 rose 30 points or 0.5% to 6171 as the White House held off on fresh tariffs on Chinese imports and revealed plans for a second meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The news helped lift the S&P 500 0.19% overnight, ending a four-session string of declines. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 2.25 points or 0.08%.
The local rally was spearheaded by telecoms +2.7%, energy +1.8% and IT +1.8%. The financial sector put on 0.8%, while materials slipped 0.1%. The gold sector shed 0.6% and consumer discretionary 0.5%.

Asian markets were muted with the threat of an additional US$200 billion in US tariffs hanging over Chinese exports. The Shanghai Composite slipped 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.47%. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.99%.

Crude oil futures added four cents or 0.06% this morning to US$67.58 a barrel. Gold futures deteriorated $1.50 or 0.13% to US$1,198.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.07 US cents.


What to make of CAG? Volume looks like more than just traders, but the whole thing is mysterious. A popcorn stock for me. Will continue to watch and scratch my head. Trading: picked up a few PDZ near the low as the market discounted any chance of a takeover due to Polish government machinations. Complicated story. Spent half the morning trying to make sense of it.