The share market rallied off a 16-week low this morning, paring losses suffered during the worst December in 40 years.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 15 points or 0.3% higher at 5077 as gains in energy stocks +1.1%, industrials +0.6% and financials +0.3% outweighed falls in gold -0.6%, and telecoms -0.6%. The rally followed the index's worst run of losses since June last year and two weeks of losses that have stripped away 240 points since the start of the month.
"With the prospect of tapering only days to weeks away, the global effect is starting to ramp up," Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG, told Bloomberg. "The unwinding of unconventional monetary policy is a good thing in the long term, however it will cause short-term vibrations."
Asian markets struggled for direction following a third fell 0.26%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.29% and Japan's Nikkei 0.12%. Dow futures were recently up four points or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures advanced five cents this morning to US$97.48 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.60 firmer at US$1,227.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 89.48 US cents.
You know the market is going through a rough patch when you look at a 0.3% rally and think, "Gee, what a great day." Hopefully the market is pre-empting any taper at next week's Fed meeting, so that we might start to see some buying by Tuesday. Opportunities were scarcer today but there were some if you looked hard enough. I came in slack-arsed and defensive and therefore managed no more than a minor scalp in LNG and a small speculator in ISN on pullback. I'm about ready for the weekend.
