Thanks Tweets. Very sorry to see my partner in crime stand down, but completely understand the time pressures. Hope we'll still have the benefit of your other contributions here.
Half-time round-up:
Shares were little changed at lunchtime as traders weighed a pause in interest rate hikes and cautiously bullish US futures against falls on Asian markets.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 2 points or 0.04% at 4470 after briefly touching a new 10-month low in the opening minutes of trade. Telecoms (+1%), gold (+0.9%) and energy (+0.9%) were the best-performing sectors. Financials were off 0.5% and materials were unchanged. Small caps once again out-performed the blue chips, with the Small Ordinaries up 0.2% against a 0.1% drop in the S&P/ASX 20.
"The US market, although weak last night, [recovered] from its lows by about 100 points, so we are not doing too bad," RBS Morgans private client advisor Trent Muller told Fairfax. "I wouldn't be surprised if we drift up, given the report that IBM provided to the market after the US closed."
US futures were recently up 27 points or 0.22% as IBM shares rose 1.8% in after-market trade following news of an upgrade to its full-year earnings outlook. IBM's second-quarter operating profit of $3.09 a share topped the $3.02 a share expected by analysts.
Banks dragged on Asian markets as investors reduced their exposure to the sector in line with overnight moves in Europe and the US. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.71%, Shanghai 0.49% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.33%.
The dollar wobbled then recovered this morning after the Reserve Bank flagged a pause in interest rate rises and weaker GDP growth in the light of recent economic weakness. The Aussie lost around a third of a cent but recovered most of it, recently buying US $1.0625.
The minutes from the Reserve Bank's last monetary policy meeting said: "Members noted... that the flow of recent information suggested both that there was more time to assess the likely strength of inflationary pressures in Australia and that it would be prudent to use that time.
"The delays in the recovery of coal production and supply-chain disruptions resulting from the Japanese earthquakes and tsunami also meant that GDP growth through 2011 was unlikely to be as strong as earlier forecast, with some of the recovery being pushed into the early part of 2012."
Crude oil futures were virtually unchanged this morning, ahead 6 cents at US $96.21 a barrel. Spot gold eased $4.10 to US $1,601.10 an ounce.
Another day, another dip, another recovery. Boy, does our market look like it wants to rally from these levels. Very encouraging to see the spec end hold up as well as it has. Just two trades for me this morning - scalps in NSL and DCG. Annoyed at missing EGO - well done to those on-board.
