Good morning traders. Thanks @ttward, @Ravgnome & the aftermarket loungers. Yesterday was a bit of a pancake as ttward described it haha, but there was still some bright post in the more speculative end of the market.

ASX Market Report

There was the expectation that Monday could be a quiet and directionless one, but with a daily range of under 20 points it was the narrowest range the ASX 200 has had since back in September. The ASX 200 closed at 6451.9 points, falling a negligible 4.1 points or 0.06%. Weakness in 3 of the 4 major banks, as well as Telstra & Woolworths, helped cancel gain in the big miners and ensure the Aussie markets got off to a sluggish start to the week.

As you would expect the sectors were a relatively mixed bunch, IT was the leading sector after it recovered a good portion of Fridays loses. Appen (APX) pushed onto a new high, eventually closing at $25.02, up $1.15 or 4.58%, Altium (ALU) was up $1.05 or 3.55%, and Wisetech Global (WTC) gained 59c or 2.61%.

Telecommunications were the weakest sector after dragged lower by index heavyweight Telstra (TLS). Rivals Vocus Group received a “highly conditional” offer of $5.25 per share from Swedish private equity group EQT Infrastructure, which would value the company at 3.3b. Vocus was up 66c or 16.97% to $4.55 up at close, whereas Telstra was the largest drag on the Index, dropping 9c or 2.49% to $3.53. TPG Telecom (TPM) also enjoyed a stronger day gaining 25c or 4%, after late on Friday making good on their promise to challenge the ACCC’s decision to block a proposed merger with Vodafone’s local joint venture Hutchinson Telecommunications (HTA). Hutchinson shares closed flat at 12c.

Materials shares were up 0.78% after a rise in iron ore and copper prices. Rio Tinto was up 1.77% cent to $103.02 and the highest it has traded since 2008, BHP put on 1.31% to $37.94 and Fortescue Metals (FMG) gained 2.8% or 23c to $8.45.

Shares in thinly traded junior mining explorer Rafaella Resources (RFR) surged as high as 17c on the back of news of signing a HoA to acquire 100% interesting in a Spanish a Tungsten & Tin project. They eventually closed out at 14c, a simple doubling the previous close of 7c.

Painchek (PCK) jumped 3.8c or 41.3% following news of signing a distribution agreement with Aged Care software provider Person Centred Software, to distribute the “PainChek” app to their UK client base.

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence figures are due to be released on Tuesday.

At 7am AEST the Aussie Dollar was buying .6925 USD, .5462 GBP, .6185 EUR, 7584 JPY and 1.058 NZD.

Global Markets Report

Markets in the United States and the UK were closed overnight, so not a lot to report from overnight for a change. Although Donald Trump is still never far from the headlines, and during his visit to Japan he talked with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about evening out a trade imbalance with the United States.

With the US markets offline, the Shanghai Composite took its chance to shake off the trade spat malaise and add 39.38 points or 1.38%. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.31%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng saw a drop of 0.24%, and South Korea’s Kospi saw a slight fall of 0.05%.

European markets were encouraged on the back of confirmation of merger talks between Fiat Chrysler and Renault, as well as pro-European parties retaining a firm grip on the EU parliament according to provisional results, though euro-sceptic parties did see strong gains. Equity markets were mostly up across Europe, with the pan-European index STOXX 600 saw a rise of 0.21%. Germany’s DAX was up 60.41 points or 0.5% to 12,071.8.

The price of WTI crude held steady around $59 a barrel after Donald Trump said he’s not seeking to change the regime in Iran.

The price of Gold also held steady around $1285 after jumping a couple of dollars earlier in the day.

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Be careful you don’t lose an eye on today's coffee.