Shares rebounded from a three-week low as concerns about US rate rises subsided ahead of Friday's key US employment report.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 29 points or 0.5% stronger at 5498 as yesterday's most-beaten-up sectors led a recovery. The gold sector bounced 1.4%, energy 1.2% and metals & mining 1.1% after commodity pries stabilised overnight. Traditional defensives telecoms -0.5% and consumer staples -0.2% were the worst of the sectors.
US stocks rallied overnight for the first time in four sessions as investors became more comfortable with the possibility that the federal funds rate may rise next month if the July employment update confirms the economy is improving.
“Markets look to be steadily adjusting into a holding pattern as they await the nonfarm payrolls report [in the US on Friday night],” Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG, told Bloomberg.
Most Asian markets moved modestly higher. While China's Shanghai Composite dipped 0.08%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng improved 0.68% and Japan's Nikkei 0.03%. Dow futures were ahead one points or 0.01%.
Crude oil futures bounced 11 cents or 0.23% this morning to US$47.09 a barrel. Gold futures were flat at US$1,327.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 75.71 US cents.
Wall Street now looking for a stay of execution on rates from Friday's jobs report. Goldilocks report preferred - not so hot that the Fed has to move and not so cold that the market falls out of bed. Trading: sluggish morning after a week of pretty lively trading. Got something out of the SRF mess. Part-fill in TYX for a couple of pips. Lately took small speculator in EHE when it fell below $3.70, intraday only.
