Thanks Brit and morning crew. Half-time round-up: A global rout...

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A global rout in financial shares helped push the ASX to a three-week low this morning after European markets hit a 15-month low and the Nasdaq neared a bear market.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 108 points or 2.2% weaker at 4867 and threatening its second-lowest close of the year. The financials sector did much of the damage, falling 2.8% to its lowest point since July 2013 after European banks hit a four-year nadir.

"The banks are continuing to be the hardest hit - and the banks are one of the worst-performing parts of the market so far this year," Commsec market analyst Steven Daghlian told Fairfax. "European shares fell to their lowest in a couple of years. The health of the banking sector was one of the concerns and the losses have continued on to our market. The major banks are down very heavily and they're the biggest part of the Australian market."

Also notably weak were the energy sector -2.9%, IT -2.7% and health -2.4%. The IT-heavy Nasdaq in the US extended its decline from its peak to 18% overnight, perilously close to the 20% retreat that would mark a bear market. The gold sector was the morning's only improver, surging 6.7% after the precious metal recorded its highest close since last July. Spot gold was lately off $4.40 for the morning at US$1,193.50 an ounce.

US equity futures extended overnight falls as Japan's Nikkei suffered heavy losses. The Nikkei was last off 3.95% after earlier being off more than 4.5%. Dow futures were down 89 points or 0.56%. China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were closed for lunar New Year holidays.

Crude oil futures rebounded 54 cents this morning to US$30.23 a barrel. The dollar was buying 70.41 US cents.


Ugly morning. (I seem to be saying that a lot this year.) Japan is taking a real hiding. US futures don't look flash, either. Lot of shares taken the woodyard this morning. Been hard work trying to pick the ones that will come back a bit before the close. Enjoyed some success with APA (early), ISX and ACX. On the hook with VIT.