Afternoon trading September 25

Thanks Grundlebundle and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares drifted lower for a second day in line with falls in China and the US following the collapse of trade talks.

The ASX 200 dropped nine points or 0.15% to 6178 mid-session, with the big banks doing much of the damage ahead of the lodging of the Royal Commission report on Friday. The heavyweight financial sector slid 0.6%, consumer staples 0.6% and consume discretionary 0.5%, offsetting gains in the energy sector +1.7%, metals & mining +0.7% and materials +0.5%.

A subdued session in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite lose 0.45% and Japan's Nikkei edge up 0.17%. Trade on Hong Kong's Hang Seng was suspended for a public holiday. Overnight, the S&P 500 in the US lost 0.35% after China rejected the US's offer of fresh trade talks. S&P 500 futures were recently off 0.75 points or 0.03%.

“Wall Street weakness amid the latest flare up in trade conflict concerns is a negative factor for equities," Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management in Japan, told Reuters. "Some markets, like Japan’s, have positive factors to fall back on like the weaker yen, but such support could be negated if the Chinese market is hit by volatility.”

Crude oil futures advanced 15 cents or 0.2% this morning to US$72.23 a barrel. Gold futures eased $1.70 or 0.14% to US$1,202.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.42 US cents.



Trading: caught CPV, but missed the peak exit opp. Still holding - may allow it a second day if it holds through to the close. Also took AVQ at 10c. Missed FOD by thaaaaat much.