Thanks Endless. Also Trees, Cgull and other forum worthies for the generous welcome. Good to be back in the fray, even if trades were hard to come by this morning.
Half-time round-up:
The ASX 200 was this morning struggling to secure a sixth straight rise as Asian markets turned sharply lower.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was one point or less than 0.1% weaker at 5040 after earlier hitting a high of 5059. The big banks accounted for most of the strength during a soft morning for resource stocks, with the financials sector rising 0.6%. Gold, down 1.4%, was the worst of the sectors, followed by energy -1.1% and materials -0.6%.
The index came off its morning high as Japan's benchmark share index headed for a fourth straight loss, its longest losing streak since early April. The Nikkei was lately down 2.3%. Shanghai was off 1.26% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.4%. Dow futures were nine points or less than 0.1% in the red.
The falls came at the start of a big week for potential market-moving news, which includes rate decisions in the US and Europe and manufacturing updates from China.
"The [US Federal Reserve] is likely to reiterate that while it is considering tapering its monetary stimulus later this year, it is conditional on stronger economic growth and that interest rate hikes are still a long way off," Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital, told Reuters. "The Fed's assessment of recent mixed data will clearly be watched as a guide to whether the start of tapering will be delayed beyond the September meeting, which was initially the consensus favorite as to when it would begin."
Spot gold slipped $4.20 this morning to US$1,329.60 an ounce. Crude oil futures drifted 13 cents lower to US$104.36 a barrel. The dollar was buying 92.7 US cents.
The market keeps climbing the wall of worry, but it's not exactly setting the heather on fire. Six sessions for an advance of about 75 points does not make for quick profits. Me? I got plenty of nuttin'. Someone pass me a Tissue (ho ho). I'm ahead in FWD after buying at support but was over-eager with PDN and PNA and need recoveries there to show a profit for the day. Bounce, damn you - some of us have sangria and paella bills to pay.
