Shares crept higher for a fifth day as weakness in the big banks and industrial stocks was counterbalanced by gains for miners.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 46 points or 0.1% at 4740. Gold stocks led the advancers, up 1.3%, followed by property trusts +1.1% and metals & mining +0.9%. The industrial sector slid 0.5% and financials were down 0.2%.
The country's trade deficit narrowed in January in fresh signs of economic growth. The shortfall shrank to $1.18 billion from a revised $2.17 billion in December - much less than the $1.6 billion gap that economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected.
Exports rose 1% as iron ore shipments jumped 7%. Imports fell 3% as import of gasoline and oil declined 25%.
Most Asian markets were little changed. Japan's Nikkei drifted was flat, Shanghai off 0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.5%. Dow futures were at -6.
Oil and gold were marginally softer this morning. The spot gold price was $2.50 lower at $1,137.40 an ounce. Crude oil futures was down 2 cents to $80.90 a barrel.
A profitable morning of scalping here. Traded WTN twice - first trade would have been nice with a full order instead of peanuts. Lost patience with LLC before the bounce - pity. Nice bounce in PRY - always looked likely to find support in the mid-teens. Also grabbed some PPX at 64.5.
