Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:The share market inched to a...

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market inched to a three-month high this morning as a bumper profit result helped BHP extend its longest winning run in five years.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was two points or less than 0.1% higher at 5386 after earlier touching 5396, a level last visited in mid-November. BHP did much of the heavy lifting as it hit a one-year high as a ninth straight rise followed news that the company doubled profits over the first half of the financial year. Read more here.

A 1.1% rise in the metals & mining sector helped offset a generally soft morning across the broader market, including declines of 2.1% in gold shares, 0.8% in utilities and 0.5% in consumer discretionary.

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.12% and Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.28%. Dow futures were recently down nine points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures eased 18 cents this morning to US$100.74 a barrel. Spot gold was $5.30 weaker at US$1,323.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 90.71 US cents.



Many thanks Ramallah for the kind words this morning. Time in the market teaches you that the market has many moods and some will suit your approach to trading and some won't. Gotta make hay while you can and and cut yourself some slack when you can't. It's a confidence game and hard going when you're out of touch. I'm trying to trade my way back into form by reducing my position sizes and settling for small scalps here and there. Trades this morning in SIR, NMI, RER, SAR and BSL (latter two still open). Bit like trying to steal steady singles in cricket instead of trying to knock the leather off the ball.