Thanks Britnee and morning regulars. Half-time round-up: The...

Thanks Britnee and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

The share market rallied for a third straight session before paring its advance as the big banks gave up early gains.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 20 points or 0.3% higher at 5946 after hitting an early peak of 5975. The market came off its high as the financial sector turned south, lately down 0.3%. Utilities and gold stocks were also drags, falling 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively. Energy +2.3%, materials +1.1% and metals & mining +1.1% were the cream of the sectors.

A pullback in oil and mildly negative US futures kept Australian gains in check. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for May delivery was lately 97 cents below last night's settlement at US$53.01 a barrel. Dow futures were off 18 points or 0.1%.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.9%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.95% and Japan's Nikkei added 0.42%.

Spot gold was $2.20 softer at US$1,208.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.5 US cents.


Market looks interested in having another crack at the 6000 level, but needs more fuel than the RBA provided yesterday or Wall Street overnight. Spec sector remains very bullish. ERJ has been a monster - time to study fib lines for pullback entries in the days ahead. SHE and NMT are also standouts this week. Trading: again took a while for trades to present, but eventually rode API twice and 1PG for a solid wage.