Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:The share market has shrugged...

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market has shrugged off a mixed morning in Asia and declines in defensive sectors to hold steady following its biggest weekly rise since mid-July.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was two points or less than 0.1% stronger at 5159 after earlier dropping as much as 16 points. Gains in gold stocks +3.9%, metals & mining +1.2%, industrials +0.3% and financials +0.2% helped the market overcome losses in the health sector -1.8%, utilities -1.1%, consumer staples -0.8% and telecoms -0.5%.

"The market's had a good run over the last few weeks, so we're likely to see a bit of selling pressure today," Matthew Sherwood, head of investment markets research at Perpetual Investments, told Bloomberg. "We've had a few results that missed expectations and the reporting season has been pretty mixed. The jobless claims will be watched [tonight in the US] as that's regarded as a very good leading indicator for the US."

The Shanghai Composite was struggling to secure a fourth rise in five sessions, recently down 0.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 0.42% and Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.65%.

Dow futures were off 10 points or less than 0.1% after shares in Dow component Cisco slumped nearly 10% in after-market trade when the company announced significant job cuts this morning. Read more here.

"The old adage that fear sells couldn't be truer at the moment. Chatter around a potential 1987-type crash or a looming market top in US equities is growing louder by the day," Rivkin analyst Tim Radford told MarketWatch.

Crude oil futures advanced 29 cents this morning to US$107.25 a barrel. Spot gold jagged $4.70 higher to US$1,340.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 91.72 US cents.


Not a bad morning considering the headwinds from the Nikkei, Cisco and US chatter about an impending correction. A report this week claimed US stocks are as over-valued as they were at the market peak in 2007. Read more here. Not saying I share those concerns, but it pays to keep an open mind. I stuck to trading the mid-cap ranges this morning, taking QBE under $17 and MTS in the low $3.50s. Less successful in OZL, the black sheep of the goldies so far today.