Half-time round-up:The Australian market back-pedalled this...

Half-time round-up:

The Australian market back-pedalled this morning on profit-taking after a negative lead from Wall Street.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 54 points or 1.14% at 4720 and on course for its first losing session this week. All sectors were down, with the recent market-leading mining and materials sectors hit hardest. The gold sector tumbled 2.7%, followed by metals & mining -1.8% and materials -1.7%. The financial sector was off 1%.

"We’ve had a bit of a let-down after the US," Bell Potter senior adviser Stuart Smith told Fairfax. "We’ve been a little overdue for a softening in the exuberance."

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei broke 10,000 for the first time since October, recently trading 0.19% higher. Shanghai slipped 0.34% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.68%. Dow futures were at -3.

Crude oil continued to retreat, down 15 cents this morning to $75.84 a barrel. The spot gold price was $8 weaker at $1,202.90 an ounce.


Spent an enjoyable morning scalping the mid-caps as the big boys test the stop-losses. Took a few points off IAG, CGF, MPO and HVN from their lows. Got into KCN too early but that big floating cap in the 9.80s suggest someone is accumulating and will hopefully let it run late in the day.