Australian shares reached lunchtime unchanged after shaking off early losses, a mixed morning across Asia and negative US futures as world markets brace for US strikes against Syria.
At 1pm the ASX 200 was flat at 5135 as gains in financials +0.2%, consumer staples +0.7%, IT +0.4% and health +0.2% helped offset declines across the rest of the market. Energy stocks -0.8% and the Small Ordinaries -0.8% were the morning's biggest losers following a sharp downturn on Wall Street overnight after US Secretary of State John Kerry laid the groundwork for potential missile strikes against Syria's Assad regime.
"There's uncertainty over geopolitical issues," Angus Gluskie, chief investment officer at White Funds Management, told Bloomberg. "It's a destabilising factor. Many people like us would be saying let's stand on the sidelines. At the moment, we're not putting more money back into equities."
Dow futures were lately down 16 points or 0.1%. In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite inched up 0.06%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.24% and Japan's Nikkei was near break-even at +0.02%.
Crude oil futures bounced 23 cents this morning to US$106.41 a barrel. Spot gold fell back $7.60 to US$1,396.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 89.77 US cents.
Regional markets are playing wait-and-see. Not the easiest morning for the specs, but generally speaking these are the best trading conditions since the up-swing following the GFC. My 'hot stock' watchlist is the longest I can recall, with fresh additions most days. It's a time to be aggressive with your trading, while always keeping one eye on the exit. I had two good wins this morning in MNW and BLY but should have earned twice as much with less caution with the likes of GXY, ICG, BBG, SVW and CTX.
