The Australian share market is on course for its longest winning run in a decade as the big miners benefit from solid overnight gains in resources.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 11 points or 0.2% higher at 4900 for the first time since April 2011. If the index holds its gains through to the close it will be the first time it has rallied for 10 straight days since an 11-day stretch in October 2003, according to Bloomberg.
Traditional cyclical sectors resumed control of the sector leader board after giving way to defensives yesterday. Energy stocks rallied 1%, metals & mining 1%, materials 0.9% and financials 0.4%. Most of the sectors that retreated this morning were defensive: consumer staples -1.3%, utilities -1% and telecoms -0.4%.
"There's been a bit of profit taking in the banks after a stellar day yesterday across the sector," Burrell Stockbroking director Richard Herring told Fairfax. "It's a pretty steady performance all things being considered. Yesterday was a very strong day, but these things are never linear and there'll always be little hiccups."
Asian markets extended their recent bull run. Shanghai rallied 0.53%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.47% and Japan's Nikkei 0.96%. Dow futures were recently up two points or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures were virtually unchanged, rising one cent this morning to US$97.48 a barrel. Spot gold was 90 cents firmer at US$1,663.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.047.
The thread is fairly humming today - wish I could find as much action on the market. Struggling to find enough volume to make a trade worthwhile. I was desperate enough to risk a whack from Endless with a quick in-out in EDE for a wage. Got away with it. Caught RSG at the low but a lousy part-fill was poor reward.
