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

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market gave back yesterday's gains this morning as Asian markets and U.S. futures aimed sharply lower.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 82 points or 1.9% at 4312 and within reach of an ominous new 10-month closing low. Gold was the only sector to trade positive as the rest of the market skidded lower after a weak lead from Wall Street.

"There is still a lot of uncertainty and markets hate uncertainty," Macquarie Private Wealth adviser Helen Spencer told Fairfax.

The Australian dollar was down against major currencies as investors dumped "risk assets". The dollar was recently buying 0.8208 U.S. cents, down 0.4%.

In economic news, local wages continued to improve in the last quarter as the jobs market tightened, according to a survey released this morning. Total pay climbed 4.3% in the 12 months to May.

Asian markets were firmly lower. Japan's Nikkei was on target for a fifth straight loss, down 2.37% in morning trade, Shanghai was recently off 1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 2%.

Dow futures were recently at a very bearish -110, trading below the psychologically important 10,000 level at 9933.

Crude oil futures sagged this morning as the U.S. dollar continued to improve. Crude futures were recently trading at $69.46 a barrel, down another 50 cents. The spot gold price was 60 cents stronger at $1,192.10 an ounce.


Glad I made money yesterday because this morning was a damp squib. It's not panic out there, so much as glum resignation. I must have been too bearish when setting my price alerts because it has been a quiet morning. I picked ORI and SPT for possible repeats of yesterday's runs. One out of two ain't bad but it doesn't add up to much profit. I should know by now that SPT never runs unless the instos want it to. Just added CEY.