Afternoon folks.Half-time round-up: Selling in key financials...

Afternoon folks.

Half-time round-up: Selling in key financials combined with yet more capital raisings dragged Australian shares lower this morning. At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 50 points or 1.3% at 3723, following a negative lead from Wall St on Friday.

BBG and GNC became the latest in the never-ending stream of companies rattling the tin for more capital. WBC led a retreat in financials after going ex-dividend.

Asian markets were significantly weaker, with the Nikkei down nearly 3% and the Hang Seng more than 1.5%. Dow futures were also gloomy at -64.

Been a morning of few opportunities. I've scratched out small profits in bounce trades in BSL, MEL, KZL and NUF but it has been turgid stuff, grinding out a couple of hundred dollars here, a few there. Not really a day to be brave. Better opportunities later in the week, I suspect. Good luck to all.