Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Shares eased...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares eased back from an 11-month high this morning in line with a regional retrace after Japan dampened expectations for further stimulus measures and crude oil declined.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 21 points or almost 0.4% weaker at 5492 but on track for a second week of solid gains. The index has put on 400 points since bottoming three weeks ago. Gains this morning in gold stocks +3%, metals & mining +1.4% and materials 0.8% were outweighed by declines in consumer staples -1%, energy -0.9% and consumer discretionary -0.8%.

Japan's Nikkei slid 0.9% after the Governor of the Bank of Japan dismissed speculation that the central bank will employ 'helicopter money' to stimulate a sluggish economy. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.32% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.42%. Dow futures were recently ahead three points or 0.02%.

Crude oil futures pared an overnight decline of 2% with a rally of four cents or 0.1% this morning to US$44.79 a barrel. Gold futures were off $3.50 or 0.3% at US$1,327.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 74.8 US cents.


Market looks a bit weary at this point, but the declines are smaller than the advances, so no reason to cash out yet. This has been the strongest run over the last year, probably since the RBA-inspired rally in January last year that pushed us towards 6000. Trading: held KIN overnight on the basis the chart looked identical to BSE just before it rebounded. Announcement this morning offered a nice exit opp. Also traded the initial bounce in WLD. Been a bumpy week - got incinerated by SYR on Tuesday - but have recovered well.