Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:The share market has suffered...

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

The share market has suffered its heaviest fall in nearly a month as investors choked on a queasy mix of carbon tax selling, weak US jobs, European debt worries and rising Chinese inflation.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 60 points or 1.3% at 4594, with all sectors except telecoms trading lower. Sectors exposed to the new carbon tax were among those hit hardest, with metals & mining down 1.4%, materials 1.4%, energy 1.2% and industrials 1%. Shares in Qantas and Virgin fell after Qantas warned it will increase ticket prices when the tax is introduced next year.

Richard Herring, head of trading at Burrell Stockbroking told Fairfax the carbon tax was "just another layer of uncertainty, which is not what we need at the moment. The government isn't showing a lot of leadership at the moment and that's been reflected in the savings rate being so high. People are taking the view that perhaps I'm better off managing my own money than giving it to somebody else."

US futures deteriorated with Asian markets this morning following Friday's disappointing US jobs report and Saturday's sharp rise in China's consumer price index. Dow futures were recently down 54 points or 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.48%, Shanghai 0.14% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.75%.

In domestic economic news, the housing industry received a boost from a rise in home loans last month. The number of home loans approved in May increased by 4.4%, according to ABS figures released this morning.

"It suggests to me that the soft patch in Aussie economic growth was really just [Queensland and Victoria] disaster distortions and the underlying momentum remains strong," ICAP senior economist Adam Carr told Fairfax. "The Reserve Bank is not going to be hiking rates while sentiment is so poisonous."

Crude oil futures eased 32 cents or 0.3% this morning to US $95.88 a barrel. Spot gold was $3 stronger at US $1,544 an ounce. The dollar was buying US $1.0706.


Plenty of bullishness at the speccy end this morning despite the grim overall mood of the market. Well done if you picked up alternative energy stocks like GDY and CWE last week. I've been cautiously easing my way back into the game. Sold some KIK, alas once again too early but at a very nice profit. Rode the recovery in WHC and added a few ASL at support for the developing intraday bounce.