The share market reversed early losses this morning as company earnings provided support and the Reserve Bank left further rate cuts on the table.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 10 points or 0.2% stronger at 5074 after earlier dipping as low as 5045. A tepid morning among financials (unchanged) and metals & mining +0.2% left energy stocks +1%, industrials +0.3%, and a handful of defensives to do the heavy lifting.
Most of the morning's earnings reports were well-received, with rallies in CCL, SXL, IVC and AIO offsetting falls in SHL, MGX and MND.
The dollar rallied more than a quarter of a cent after the minutes from the last Reserve Bank meeting kept alive the prospect of further rate cuts. The bank said global economic conditions had improved this year but inflation remained benign. The dollar was recently buying US$1.0332.
"The inflation outlook, as assessed at this meeting, would afford scope to ease policy further, should that be necessary to support demand," the minutes said.
Asian markets were little changed. Shanghai dipped 0.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.14% and Japan's Nikkei lost 0.11%. Dow futures were recently down three points or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures inched up nine cents this morning to US$95.64 a barrel. Spot gold firmed $4.60 to US$1,614.40 an ounce.
I'm a firm subscriber to Baron Rothschild's adage that you should buy when there's blood in the street, but there was so much of the stuff flowing in the opening minutes that it was hard to tell what still had a pulse. I snagged bounces in APN and BLD but could have had half a dozen more trades with more focus and less happening at once. MEL has yet to come good but that story has a long way to run. More recently added EGP.
