Australian stocks pared a four-day winning run this morning as a Labor leadership battle fuelled political uncertainty and Asian markets fell back.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 16 points or 0.4% at 4276 as falls among the miners and big banks outweighed slender gains in industrials, energy stocks and a few defensive sectors. The declines followed modest falls in Europe and the US overnight and news this morning that the Labor Party will hold a leadership ballot on Monday.
"European markets have been soft, the US market hasn't been doing much and commodity prices are flat," Austock Securities senior client adviser and strategist Michael Heffernan told Fairfax.
Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei was little changed -0.06%, Shanghai narrowly ahead at +0.12% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 0.77%. Dow futures were recently down nine points or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures eased 16 cents this morning to US$105.84 a barrel. Spot gold was $4.50 weaker at US$1,774.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0631.
Hard to keep your mind on trading on a rare day when politics seems genuinely exciting. Managed to find a couple of buys amidst the fervour: APA at the low and a paltry part-fill in SKI, both modestly profitable. Also took a small profit on CWN soon after the open from yesterday's pullback.
