Thanks Roaminoz - great back-stop this morning. Half-time...

Thanks Roaminoz - great back-stop this morning.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares hit their lowest level of the week before reversing as bargain hunters took advantage of opening declines following the downing of a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine and an Israeli military incursion into Gaza.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was three points or nearly 0.1% higher at 5526 after falling as low as 5484 in the first 15 minutes of trade. Gold +2.6% was the best of the sectors, followed by industrials +0.4%, consumer staples +0.4% and health +0.3%. Notable losses included property trusts -0.3%, metals & mining -0.2% and utilities -0.1%. The recovery defied gloomy expectations for the session following Wall Street's heaviest fall in three months.

"Today is going to be a pretty ugly day,” IG market analyst Chris Weston told Fairfax. “If you are a trader, are you going to want to be holding positions going into this weekend when the situation could potentially escalate? People are going to be piling into the bond market."

The turnaround came despite negative US futures and losses on most Asian markets. Dow futures were recently off 30 points or almost 0.2%. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.33%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.53% and Japan's Nikkei 1.11%.

Crude oil futures eased four cents this morning to US$103.72 a barrel. Spot gold was $3.70 lower at US$1,315.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 93.53 US cents.


Nothing seems to unsettle this market. Every dip is treated as a buying opportunity. I dunno what to make of it. Hard to imagine what will cause a genuine retrace in this climate? Alien invasion? The spec sector, especially, appears utterly oblivious to what is going on in the broader market. I expected some good bounce opportunities this morning but only managed to get set in SEK, so fleeting was the opportunity window. Hoped AGK would come a little lower before rebounding. More recently, added a small speculator in AJL.