The share market was little changed at lunchtime after a morning of dour local economic news.
At 1pm the ASX 200 was down 2 points or 0.05% at 4379, with further evidence of rotation from cyclical to defensive sectors. The twin pillars of the local market, financials and miners, were down 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, while rising sectors were fronted by health, gold, telecoms and consumer staples.
Consumer confidence recorded its biggest two-month fall in more than two years as pessimism grew over the global economic outlook. The WBC-MI consumer sentiment index fell 5.7% this month. The slide followed a 7% drop in May, marking the sharpest two-month decline since the height of the global financial crisis.
The slowdown in the real estate market was underlined by a seventh straight monthly fall in housing finance. New housing loans fell 1.8% in April, seasonally adjusted - slightly less than economists expected.
Asian markets declined. Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.98% as a rising yen pressured exporters, Shanghai was near flat at -0.05% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 0.4%. Dow futures were recently at a mildly bearish -39.
Crude oil futures drifted 5 cents lower this morning to $72.52 a barrel. The spot gold price was 70 cents stronger at $1,237.30 an ounce. The Australian dollar was weaker against the major currencies, buying 0.8232 U.S. cents, down 0.5%.
A tricky morning with few overseas leads. My only decent trade was the second bounce in ELD. Also holding AMC and PBG but progress is snooze-inducing slow. Just missed PIE at 2.6.
