Afternoon trading September 5

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

The share market clawed back a portion of yesterday's heavy loss after US stocks steadied just enough overnight for buyers to dip their toes.

The ASX 200 bounced 19 points or 0.24% by mid-session, reversing a sliver of yesterday's 153-point loss. Tech, property and banking stocks led the recovery, supported by miners.

The energy sector slumped 4.26% following oil's lowest close in 15 months and was Woodside traded ex-dividend. Utilities, consumer stocks and healthcare providers also weakened.

The Dow finished 0.09% higher overnight as the promise of a September rate cut helped offset a three-and-a-half-year low in job openings. The S&P 500 eased 0.16%.


Personal trading: Another morning screwed by Iress software problems. Took a losing trade in IMU that I might not have if I'd known I wasn't looking at a true order book. Lost confidence in the software after that and pulled most of my bids until the problems were resolved. In other words, lost the best part of the trading day. The struggle is real.