Day traders' after-market lounge July 30

Thanks afternoon crew. (And thanks @SallySet and @ttward for the supportive comments. Helps on a day like this to remember I have sometimes made money at this.)

End-of-day summary:

The share market trimmed its first loss in three sessions as traders took advantage of early weakness to pick up consumer and bank stocks.

The ASX 200 more than halved an early plunge of 95 points to 36 points or 0.46% by this afternoon's close.

The consumer discretionary and financial sectors led the fightback as CBA, Wesfarmers, QBE and Coles turned positive. Resource stocks were the biggest drag following overnight weakness in crude and most metals.

US stocks marked time overnight ahead of major market events later in the week. Microsoft's Q2 trading update looms as the week's first major hurdle.