Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:Regional markets advanced this...

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Regional markets advanced this morning as a broad-based rally pushed the XJO to a fresh 10-month high.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 45 points or 0.93% at 4926 after earlier reaching its highest level since April 22 last year. All sectors were trading positive following a peaceful resolution to the Egyptian crisis, which helped Wall Street run to 30-month highs on Friday.

"There's no doubt that with things calming in Egypt somewhat, risk appetite has increased," Macquarie Private Wealth adviser Helen Spencer told Fairfax. "Following the positive leads from Europe and the US, we are certainly following suit."

In economic news, resilience in the housing market was underlined by a sixth straight increase in monthly home loans in December. The number of loans issued rose 2.1%, following a 2.5% rise in November.

Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.76% this morning, despite news that a contracting economy cost the nation its claim to be the world's second-largest economy. GDP fell by 1.1% in the December quarter, less than economists expected, but sufficient for China to overtake Japan in economic output.

Shanghai was recently up 0.74% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.4%. Dow futures were recently at +2.

Spot gold was 60 cents weaker at $1,356.20 an ounce.
Crude oil futures were unchanged at $85.59 a barrel. The dollar was buying US $1.0044.


A bullish morning's trade, with the 5000 mark on the XJO suddenly not looking that far away. I had the rare experience this morning of finding out what it was to be more like Young Trader or Treasure Hunter when a medium-term speculative position in VHL paid off handsomely. Not usually my sort of trade - don't have the patience, timing or analytical skills - but very satisfying. Also had a couple of scalps in VLA - that's more my style.