Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: The share...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market's longest winning run of the year faltered this morning amid concerns about a fall-off in volume and buyer exhaustion.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 12 points or 0.2% lower at 5446 and struggling to secure a ninth straight gain. The benchmark index hit an 11-month high this morning as traders picked up energy stocks (+0.9%), utilities 0.6% and consumer staples +0.5%. Dragging the index lower were materials -0.8%, metals & mining -0.75% and financials -0.7%.

“The market is taking a pause,” Tony Farnham, strategist at Paterson Securities, told Bloomberg. “There isn’t much of a catalyst out there. People are starting to question if there’s still value in the market following the post-Brexit rally.”

Trading volumes have trended lower since this rally began, yesterday falling a third below the recent average.

"If we focus on the $3.86 billion volume through the ASX 200 yesterday this was well below the year's average of $5.8 billion and 33 per cent below the 30-day average," IG strategist Chris Weston told Fairfax. "Breadth has been good though and participation in the rally has been strong, but the pathetic volume going through the market is a concern and highlights some fatigue in the move."

A mixed morning in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite drop 0.11%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.32% and Japan's Nikkei gain 0.22%. Dow futures were recently off 13 points or 0.07%.

Crude oil futures slid 15 cents or 0.3% this morning to US$45.09 a barrel. Gold futures were unchanged at US$1,329.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying 75.24 US cents.


All good things come to an end. This rally looks well overdue for a pullback when Wall Street gives the nod. The last two sessions have felt a bit like the moment the coyote runs off the clifftop and pedals air. Plenty of room below for a retrace without disrupting what looks like a decent uptrend since the market bottomed in February. Trading: more airshots this morning than hits. The over-reaction in MRD paid off. The other one I did connect with is so weak on volume I'll keep it to myself, not because it's a great find but because it would be easy to trade against.