The share market shrugged off weak retail sales this morning and reversed two days of weakness in under two hours as regional markets rebounded.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 45 points or 0.9% ahead at 4928 led by gains in consumer staples +1.8%, financials +1.2%, property trusts +1% and materials +0.6%. The only sectors to lose ground were gold -0.8%, telecoms -0.5% and IT -0.5%.
Most retail stocks advanced despite disappointing Christmas sales figures released this morning. Retail sales declined 0.2% in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. The news helped push the dollar down around half a cent to $US1.0357.
"It's a further sign that consumers are holding back at the retail level, holding back on the large discretionary purchases and, as a consequence, retail figures continue to be quite subdued," NAB senior economist Spiros Papadopoulos told Fairfax. "They certainly seem to be in a fairly good financial position, but they're just choosing not to spend that money in the same way that they were prior to the GFC."
Asian markets stabilised following yesterday's falls. Shanghai inched up 0.04%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.56% and Japan's Nikkei 2.84%. S&P 500 futures were recently up two points or 0.1%.
Crude oil futures retreated 11 cents this morning to US$96.61 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.80 softer at US$1,672 an ounce.
Glad to see it has been a bountiful morning for many, courtesy of everyone's favourite hottie, ICG. Once again I looked the gift horse in the mouth, so while you're all guzzling Bolly and snacking on caviar, I'll have to content myself with a glass of Yellowtail and a bag of chips. Bought the dip in AWC but let them go far too soon. Picked the low in LYC but was left with a miserable part-fill that amounted to little. Profitable morning, but could have been so much better.
