Half-time round-up:The Australian share market slumped for the...

Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market slumped for the sixth session in seven this morning after an early rally in the big miners petered out.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 18 points or 0.4% at 4550, its lowest level since early November. By 1 pm, most sectors were underewater. Bucking the trend were IT +0.9%, metals & mining +0.3% and consumer discretionary +0.3%. Financial stocks were down 0.3%.

The Reserve Bank received mixed messages about the health of the local economy this morning ahead of tomorrow's interest rate decision. House prices jumped 5.2% last quarter, well ahead of median expectations for a rise of 3.5%. But job ads tumbled more than 8% seasonally adjusted in January.

"The monthly decline in job advertisements highlights the fragility inherent in the current recovery phase, but we should see more solid growth rates as we move further into 2010," ANZ acting chief economist Warren Hogan said in a statement this morning.

Asian markets fell away. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.4%, Shanghai 1.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.67%. Dow futures were ahead in mid-morning but have fallen back to +1 as the Chinese market slipped.

Gold inched higher this morning. The spot gold price was $1.80 higher at $1,082 an ounce. Crude oil futures were unchanged at $72.66 a barrel.


A milder morning than futures traders anticipated. Let's hope the U.S. takes the bait tonight. Been a solid start to the week here as I break in a new PC. Caught early bounces in AQA, GBP and NWH. In and out of BTR for a small loss before the support broke. Just grabbed some IPL - looking for no more than a few points.