The Australian share market hit a new nine-month low this morning but reversed course to trade little changed by lunchtime.
At 1pm the ASX 200 was down 1 points or 0.03% at 4385 after recovering from an intraday low of 4345, its lowest level since August 24. The gold, industrial and financial sectors were the main drags on the market, with defensives providing most of the green and mining recently breaking even.
"The market's fallen over 10 per cent from its highs," Macquarie Private Wealth adviser Helen Spencer told Fairfax. "Without a doubt you will start seeing some investors starting to take advantage of that pull-back."
In the U.S., legislation to overhaul financial industry rules stalled in the Senate this morning as Republicans resisted a move to a final vote on the bill. A vote to move to final passage of the legislation missed the required 60-vote threshold by three votes. Democrats described the failure as a temporary procedural setback.
Japan's economy expanded in the first three months of the year, but not as fast as hoped. Data released this morning showed gross domestic product accelerated by an annualised 4.9% in the January-March period. However, a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 11 economists had predicted 5.9% annualised growth.
Recent economic uncertainty has taken a toll on local inflation expectations, according to data released this morning. The median expected inflation rate fell to 3.6% this month, from 4.1% last month, according to the Melbourne Institute Survey of Consumer Inflationary Expectations.
Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei was off 0.72% in morning trade but Shanghai was ahead 0.14% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.57%. Dow futures were recently at a mildly bullish +29.
Crude oil futures gave back some of their overnight gains this morning as the U.S. dollar edged higher. Crude for June deliver fell 91 cents to $70.39 a barrel. The spot gold price was $4.70 higher at $1,197.20 an ounce.
Another manic morning here - have only just caught up with the thread. These are terrific trading conditions for bounce scalping. The plunge through to 11.30 am was a great chance to load up for a bounce that was highly probable IMO. I grabbed STO, IGO, BBG, MGX and QAN. Still holding BBG, MGX, QAN and AAX - the latter bought too early. Also did well from BOL off the capitulation low.
