Australian shares pared early gains this morning as GDP data narrowly missed expectations and Asian markets traded mixed following overnight weakness on Wall Street.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was eight points or 0.2% ahead at 4512 after earlier running as high as 4522. Financials provided most of the uplift, together with industrials and defensives. Resource stocks and small caps lost ground.
The market came off its high shortly before the 11.30am EST release of September quarter growth figures that came in just below expectations. The economy grew 0.5% for the quarter for an annual rate of 3.1%, down from annual growth of 3.7% through to June and 4.4% through to March. The consensus figure among economists polled by Bloomberg was for a quarterly rate of 0.6%.
"This is a fairly sluggish rate of growth, even with mining investment adding to growth, and before the major fiscal cutbacks begin to come through," Macquarie senior economist Brian Redican told Fairfax. "Those cuts are starting to have an impact, but a negative impact, particularly from mining, is just going to get larger through 2013."
US futures were weak despite a mixed morning in Asia. Shanghai rallied 0.4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.61% and Japan's Nikkei lost 0.13%. Dow futures were recently off 15 points or 0.1%.
Crude oil futures bounced 15 cents this morning to US$88.55 a barrel. Spot gold was 40 cents lower at US$1,698 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0468.
Tough times. Well done if you're making a coin because these turgid volumes and go-nowhere sessions are challenging. Been very hit and miss at this trading desk. Exited FAS from yesterday for brokerage - not enough buying interest yet. Caught OGC too early on the way down, got greedy during the bounce and ended up exiting for brokerage. Was pretty lucky to squeeze a pip out of QFX. Taken a small speculator in BKP. Scorecard: C-.
