Thanks Brit and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Buoyant US...

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Buoyant US equity futures and gains across Asia were not enough for the ASX to extend yesterday's rally as caution persisted after last week's two-and-a-half-year low.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was four points or 0.1% lower at 4839 after earlier running as high as 4871. The benchmark index fell back as CBA traded without its dividend, dragging the financial sector down 0.8%. Also weak were gold -2.2%, telecoms -1.1% and utilities -0.4%, outweighing rises in metals & mining +1.6%, materials +1.4% and industrials +0.8%.

"Volatility is very high and market sentiment is fluctuating," Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, told Fairfax. "It is too early to say we have seen the bottom."

The market ignored a surge in US futures ahead of the resumption of trade tonight following yesterday's public holiday. Dow futures were recently ahead 250 points or 1.57%. China's Shanghai Composite was up 1.57%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.12% and Japan's Nikkei 0.76%.

Crude oil futures rallied 79 cents this morning to US$30.62 a barrel. Spot gold was $8.70 softer at US$1,203 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.62 US cents.


Green everywhere else. Crude is up, US futures up, gold down, OPEC leaders are meeting, the ECB is ready to cut again but that does not seem to be enough to buy us a rally. Institutional traders are taking no chances, locking in profits from this morning's run, so down we go. Trading: all about 88E for me today. Two trades for a good wage. Volatility + trading volume = opportunity.