Australian share indexes drifted near one-month lows this morning as risk-aversion again saw defensive sectors outperform cyclicals.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 23 points or 0.5% weaker at 4620 as falls among financial and mining stocks outweighed modest advances in telecoms and property trusts.
The dollar softened, falling 0.2% to 98.7 U.S. cents as investors rotated out of so-called "risk assets" into precious metals and the U.S. dollar.
"Investors are concerned about the contagion effect spreading to other parts of Europe and Portugal seems to be... the next cab off the rank," HiFX trading director Mike Hollows told Fairfax. "There's a little bit of risk aversion there, and there's just some general uncertainty."
Shanghai resumed its recent downtrend, sliding 1.3%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off 1%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a public holiday. Dow futures were recently at -22.
Crude oil futures edged 3 cents higher this morning to $81.73 a barrel. Spot gold trimmed its gains, falling $4.30 to $1,361.50 an ounce.
Zzzzz... A slow day on the farm and unlikely to change this arvo unless Shanghai really tumbles/reverses or there's unexpected news. Thought the steel companies might catch a bounce but I'm on the wrong horse - OST rather than BSL. The bounce in AIO is my only other trade today - not much catching the eye out there.
