Australian shares touched Friday's three-week low as a morning of mixed economic reports gave the Reserve Bank plenty to consider at this afternoon's rate meeting.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 37 points or 0.8% at 4588 after earlier touching 4559. All sectors bar property trusts were trading lower, with IT and resource sectors hid hardest.
The morning's economic reports were largely in line with expectations but confirmed pockets of weakness in the economy. Services activity contracted for the eighth month of the last nine. The AIG/CBA Performance of Services Index eased 1.9 points last month to 45.6.
"A wide variety of factors appear to be contributing to this weakness including tentative consumers and businesses influenced by political uncertainty, volatility in the global economy, the prospect of higher domestic interest rates and the ongoing withdrawal of fiscal stimulus," AI Group chief executive Heather Ridout told Fairfax.
Other reports were stronger. Retail sales rose 0.3% in August and the trade surplus was $2.3 billion, both in line with expectations. Job ads increased for the fifth month in September but at a slower rate than the previous month.
Japan's Nikkei was recently up 0.1%. Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed for holidays. Dow futures were recently at -5.
Crude oil futures eased 25 cents this morning to $81.35 a barrel. The spot gold price was $1.10 weaker at $1,313.90 an ounce. The Aussie dollar was buying 96.64 U.S. cents.
Great discussion on the morning thread, guys, with excellent insights from some very good traders. That's the stuff that makes this forum worth its weight in gold. A mixed morning's trade here. Nice bounce trade in AQA off support. Mixed success in skimming KIK off the lows. Modest loss in DJS - thought the retail sales would help it as it went ex-dividend. Quick in and out in PEK.
