Thanks Endless.
Half-time round-up:
Australian shares fell before paring losses for a third morning as gains in defensive sectors and positive US futures offset declines in iron ore miners.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading one point or less than 0.1% lower at 5411 and well above the morning low of 5389. The index has fallen below 5400 during each of the last three sessions before recovering. Property trusts +1.1%, consumer discretionary +0.7% and utilities +0.3% were the pick of the sectors. Gold stocks slid 1.9% and metals & mining 0.8% following adverse moves on commodity markets overnight. Risk appetite remained weak as Iraq threatened to descend into civil war and Ukraine and Russia squabbled over unpaid gas bills.
"The advance of extremists to Baghdad or bombing by US forces will be a trigger to justify [a] rise in US oil prices above US$110. That would be a burden for the world economy in the near term," Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Bankingin Japan, told
Reuters.
The minutes from the last Reserve Bank policy meeting caused a small drop in the dollar as the central bank reiterated that it is comfortable with current rate levels and foresees no change for some time. The dollar was lately buying 93.64 US cents, down around a third of a cent.
US futures pushed higher following a mixed morning on Asian markets. China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.76%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.31% and Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.5%. Dow futures were recently up 20 points or more than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures eased another six cents this morning to US$106.60 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.10 softer at US$1,270.80 an ounce.
Another day, another bounce off the lows. These are profitable trading conditions for swing traders: use the early swoon to get set and then wait until the end of the day to take profits. Worked well so far today in OSH, TGA and - to a lesser extent - UGL. Had swings at a few more without getting a fill.
