Thanks Endless. And happy birthday to your ma.Half-time...

Thanks Endless. And happy birthday to your ma.

Half-time round-up:

A surge in resource stocks this morning pushed the ASX 200 to its highest level in seven weeks as a regional index headed for its longest winning streak this year.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 36 points or 0.9% at 4163 and on course for its fifth positive close in six sessions. The regional benchmark, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, was even stronger, heading for a sixth straight rise.

Resource stocks led the sector gains after strong overnight rises in oil, gold and base metals. Gold stocks rallied 3%, energy 2.8% and metals & mining 2.5%. The defensive health -0.2% and telecoms -0.1% sectors were alone in retreating.

"It's looking to be a good day," RBS Morgans Brisbane equities director Bill Chatterton told Fairfax. "The American market was up 72 points, so we've had a pretty good lead from them. I think there's broader across-the-board interest in our market today."

Asian markets nudged higher. Japan's Nikkei put on 0.4%, Shanghai 0.29% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.03%. Dow futures were recently down five points or less than 0.1%.

The morning's domestic economic news appeared to confirm a recent up-tick in the economy. Retail spending increased by 0.5% in May, ahead of economists' 0.2% consensus prediction. The services sector continued to contract but at a significantly slower pace, with the Performance of Services Index rising 5.3 points to 48.8 last month.

"The lift in the Australian PSI is heartening and one of the first glimmers of light that the rate cuts engineered by the RBA in late 2011, and the follow-up aggregate 0.75 percentage point cut in the cash rate over May-June, may be starting to positively impact the non-mining sectors of the national economy," Commonwealth Bank senior economist John Peters told Fairfax.

Crude oil futures eased 18 cents this morning to US$87.46 a barrel. Spot gold was little changed, falling 10 cents to US$1,617.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0297.


I followed my own advice and trawled through the wreckage of our junior/spec resource sectors this morning. What a depressing experience. It was like going to a school reunion and recognising nearly no one. The spreads/trading volumes/depths among so many former traders were terrible. I gave up and went in search of liquidity. MMS barely qualified but I got in near the low and hope for more bounce this arvo. Took a modest profit in SBM from Monday - could go either way from here.