Thanks Endless. Also bm100 for the kind words this morning.
Half-time round-up:
The share market is on track for its first rise in a week despite being hamstrung by gloomy US futures, a fifth day of falls in Asia and a profit miss from BHP.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 15 points or 0.3% ahead at 5094 as falls in resource stocks, telecoms and health were offset by gains across the rest of the market. The metals % mining sector was the biggest drag, falling 1.2% after BHP last night reported a fall in full-year profits that was larger than the market expected.
Gold was the best of the sectors, rising 3.2%. Other notable gains included industrials +1%, financials +0.9% and the Small Ordinaries +0.6%.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index this morning fell 0.4% to its lowest level since early July as the Shanghai composite dropped 0.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.44% and Japan's Nikkei 0.79%. Dow futures were down 18 points or more than 0.1%.
Spot gold firmed $1.50 to US$1,372.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 90.31 US cents.
Good to see the bull is still loose in the spec paddock despite yesterday's F(i)AS-co. I had MNC firmly in my sights this morning and managed to miss it twice at 6.3 through waiting for the gap to fill a pip lower. Sometimes you can be too damn literal about these things. Had more success with the pullback in SSN. Waiting for recoveries in CFE and TIS. Just added BRU.
