Afternoon trading September 5

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

News the economy grew at the fastest pace in five years failed to prevent a fifth day of share market declines during a weak morning for regional markets.

The ASX 200 slumped 51 points or 0.8% to 6242 by mid-session as markets reacted to overnight weakness on Wall Street. A strengthening US dollar lowered key commodity prices and helped drag the local metals & mining sector down 2%, materials 1.7% and gold 1%. The financial sector shed 0.75%.

The dollar rebounded from a two-year low on news that annual GDP improved by 3.4% last quarter from 3.1% during the previous three months, well above economists' expectations for a reading of 2.9%. The dollar was lately buying 72.11 US cents after hitting a 27-month low of 71.57 US cents overnight.
The S&P 500 eased 0.17% in the US overnight as investors fretted about the prospect of further tariffs on Chinese imports and turbulence in emerging markets. This morning China's Shanghai Composite sagged 0.27%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.04% and Japan's Nikkei 0.29%. S&P 500 futures were recently up half a point or 0.02%.

Crude oil futures shed 43 cents or 0.62% this morning to US$69.44 a barrel. Gold futures inched up 70 cents or 0.06% to US$1,199.80 an ounce.


Nice work if you caught CZL. VMC and POH looked trickier. Added all to watchlist for when they settle. Small dab at JRV but disappointed with the volume. Have the bad habit of stumbling now and then into a zombie stock. Deadly for day trading.