Morning traders.Market wrap: profit-taking saw Wall St retreat...

Morning traders.

Market wrap: profit-taking saw Wall St retreat overnight after Monday's breathless rally. The major US indexes flirted with positive territory before falling away into the closing bell to losses of 1.5 - 2.5% The banks and REITS that spearheaded Monday's rally led the market lower last night, with sector indexes losing up to 8.5%.

Gold continued to decline, recently trading at $926, down $10 from this time yesterday. Oil continued its uptrend, spiking 0.5% higher late in the session to trade at $53.50. Base metals slipped a little from recent highs.

Our futures tip a soft start to the day, with the SPI dropping 25 points to 3579.

There's no obvious lead in last night's action, so I'll wait to see what the market offers at the open. Defensive stocks have been sold down during the recent rally and some are at or near support levels. Should be bounce trade opportunities in the next few days. I'm thinking of COH and CSL in particular.