The share market shrugged off early declines and a lacklustre morning on regional markets to reach lunchtime in positive territory for the first time in four sessions.
At 1pm the ASX 200 was 10 points or 0.2% higher at 5124 as gains in gold +2.7%, consumer staples +1.7%, health +1.3%, industrials +0.8% and metals & mining +0.4% offset losses in telecoms -3.1% and financials -0.1% as TLS and CBA went ex-dividend.
The gains came despite a mixed morning in Asia where Shanghai slipped 0.53% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.14%. Japan's Nikkei inched ahead 0.14%. Dow futures were recently up 19 points or more than 0.1%.
Gold extended last week's rally. Spot gold put on $4 at US$1,381.20 an ounce. Crude oil futures slipped 24 cents to US$107.44 a barrel. The dollar was buying 92.26 US cents.
Not a lot of movement at the big end of town but the specs keep bubbling away. The XSO broke to a 14-week high this morning and appears to have the mid-May peaks in its sights, provided Wall Street doesn't lob a spanner. I had a morning of dull, steady profits, scalping ARI, DUE and GTE off their lows and closing out RHC from Friday.
