Thanks Endless. And congrats to Kevi on the latest acquisition....

Thanks Endless. And congrats to Kevi on the latest acquisition.

Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market this morning extended its decline to a sixth session in line with Asian peers after the economy unexpectedly shed 27,000 jobs last month.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 19 points or 0.5% at 4077 with resource stocks once again steering the index lower. The gold sector declined 2.7%, metals & mining 2.2% and materials 2%. Defensive health stocks were the pick of the sectors, rising 0.8%. IT +0.5%, industrials +0.3% and telecoms +0.3% also bucked the downtrend.

The falls accelerated after the 11.30am EST release of June employment figures, which recorded the biggest drop in full-time jobs since November. The economy shed 33,500 full-time positions, partly offset by a small rise in part-time positions for an overall loss of 27,000. Economists had been expecting a flat result. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1% to 5.2%.

The dollar dropped around half a cent following the report, recently buying US$1.0198.

Asian markets continued their losing run. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.97%, Shanghai 0.77% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.88%. Dow futures were recently down 15 points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures shed 46 cents this morning to US$85.69 a barrel. Spot gold was $3.70 weaker at US$1,572 an ounce.


Another grim grind lower with shorters having a field day. After being stopped out of CSR I'm on track for a losing week unless something dramatic changes. Picked up PNA and WHC this morning before the jobs report tipped the market lower. Behind on both. Also grabbed AZH. Watching AMX. BSE and BBG looking brighter from earlier this week.