Australian shares struggled to extend four days of gains this morning, trailling regional gains despite bright domestic housing news and a pick-up in Chinese services activity.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down two points or less than 0.1% at 4130 after see-sawing in an unusually tight 15-point band. Modest gains in some of the big banks and miners offset weakness in small caps, industrials, defensive sectors and energy and gold stocks.
Asian markets rallied, pushing the MSCI Asia Pacific Index higher for a fifth day, its best run since March. Japan's Nikkei put on 0.76% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.47%. Dow futures were recently down one point or less than 0.1%.
The Shanghai Composite gained 0.78% following a modest improvement in the services purchasing managers' index. The PMI increased to 56.7 last month from 55.2 in May, breaking a two-month run of declines.
Building approvals rocketed in May as interest rate cuts began to have an impact. Approvals increased by a record 27.3%, well ahead of economists' expectations for a rise of around 5%.
Crude oil futures edged up 17 cents this morning to US$83.83 a barrel. Spot gold was $2.90 stronger at US$1,599.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0269.
Dreary morning. Bring on the Reserve Bank rate decision at 2.30pm EST, even if that's likely to be a non-event. I had the unhappy knack of setting my buy orders a pip or two too low for a hit this morning. The only cause for cheer was a promising turnaround in SBM. Possible reversal developing, confirmation still required.
