Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:Australian stocks inched ahead...

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian stocks inched ahead for a fifth day as gains in financials and defensive sectors off-set minor falls among resource stocks.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 9 points or 0.2% at 4776. The market has been trading in a tight 35-point range but crawling higher since last Thursday's 40-point jump.

"There does not seem to be a huge amount of interest today," IG Markets dealer Chris Weston told Fairfax. "The lead from the US was non-existent, and since the open on Monday, we have traded in a 28-point range. Utilities, real estate investment trusts and IT seem to be the sectors pushing up a little."

The dollar recovered a fraction of its overnight tumble, recently trading 0.2% higher at 98.78 U.S. cents, after falling more than a cent overnight as U.S. economic reports boosted the greenback.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.06%, Shanghai up 0.21 % and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.11%. Dow futures were recently at -8 and improving.

Spot gold was $2.80 softer at $1,379.20 an ounce. Crude oil futures were unchanged at $88.48 a barrel.


Pretty turgid trading conditions this last week. Wish the market would either smash overhead resistance or collapse. There was some excitement in KAS and VMS this morning but you had to be quick or ready and waiting. I was neither. Those sort of opportunities used to be relatively common when automated stop-losses were in vogue a few years back, but that era seemed to end with the GFC (when all the stop losses got hit, lol). Been a morning of modest achievement here - caught some of the bounce in RMS and some of the recovery in UGL. Added ANN - been waiting for an entry - and GDO.