Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:Australian shares pushed to a...

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares pushed to a two-week high this morning, ignoring falls in Asia as weak domestic consumer sentiment strengthened the case for more rate cuts.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 12 points or 0.3% higher at 4729 after a broad rally lifted all sectors except metals & mining -0.4% and materials -0.2%. Stand-outs included health +1.4%, gold +1.4%, the Small Ordinaries +0.7% and financials +0.5%.

The WBC/MI index of consumer confidence improved by 0.6% to 100.6 this month, barely denting December's 4.1% decline and giving the Reserve Bank plenty of food for thought.

"It remains disappointing that despite a total of 175 basis points of rate cuts from the Reserve Bank since October 2011 the Index is only 3.5 percent above its level at that time," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans told Fairfax.

Other data was more positive. New car sales increased by 2.2% this month and personal finance loans increased by 1% in November.

Asian markets gave back some of their recent gains. Shanghai lost 0.38%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.41% and Japan's Nikkei 1.43%. Dow futures were recently down seven points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures retreated seven cents this morning to US$93.40 a barrel. Spot gold improved another $3 to US$1,681.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0567.


A few signs of potential spec fatigue starting to show in the market? The fun's by no means over, but a lot of the recent runs have been "morning suns" or one-day wonders, rising early, fading through the afternoon and not showing much follow-through next day. Volumes in yesterday's hottest stocks seem to be falling away faster, as well. There are always exceptions, but they're getting harder to find. What tends to happen with these outbreaks of speculative fever is that the loose money eventually gets trapped in losing trades and/or volatility increases in the broader market, making overnight holds less of a sure thing. We're not there yet, but the US debt ceiling debate is likely to stir the pot in the weeks ahead. Meanwhile, I had a couple of modest wins in overnight holds in AFR and FAR this morning, plus a nice bounce in IIN. Patience in CDY is finally being rewarded.