Thanks Suzie - well covered. Hope all is well with the family.
Half-time round-up:
The share market extended its Santa rally this morning as strength in Asia offset early hesitancy following three days of decline on Wall Street.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 12 points or 0.3% stronger at 4648 and on track for its fifth rise in six sessions and potentially a sixth straight week. All sectors except gold -0.5% advanced this morning, with the best gains coming in consumer discretionary +1%, industrials +0.7%, the Small Ordinaries +0.7% and energy +0.6%.
The market struggled for direction in early trade before kicking higher as the Nikkei hit its strongest level since March last year following the recent election of a pro-stimulus government. The Nikkei rallied 1.34%, Shanghai 0.62% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.76%. Dow futures were recently up 10 points or 0.1%.
"The message from Japan is clear," Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG Markets, told Bloomberg. "The incoming government will do everything in its power to weaken the yen and stimulate the economy."
Crude oil futures retreated 19 cents this morning to US$90.89 a barrel. Spot gold was $3.10 softer at US$1,657.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0368.
No surprise to see RXL and DRK pull back this morning - standard behaviour after a stock has rallied for three/four days. There will be more trades to come there in the weeks ahead, but go to the back of the class if you bought at the open. I caught the first bounce in DRK and should have repeated the feat in RXL but for over-cautiousness. Not much else moving. AVQ came good from Monday. A fair morning considering the lacklustre conditions.
