Thanks Jim for the double shift.
Half-time round-up:
Resource stocks spearheaded a second day of gains on the ASX as a likely delay in US rate rises fuelled a monster rally in gold miners and rises in commodity prices.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 44 points or 0.8% ahead at 5363 following an 11% surge in the gold sector to a three-year high after weak US jobs data fuelled a collapse in the US dollar on Friday night. Also strong were the metals & mining sector +5.7% and materials +3.9% in anticipation that a weaker greenback will support commodity prices. Crude oil futures rallied another 44 cents or 0.9% this morning to US$49.06 a barrel. Copper, nickel and aluminium rallied in London.
"The much weaker than expected [US] employment data and the retreat in the ISM non-manufacturing composite index follow a significant dip in consumer confidence," CMC chief market analyst Ric Spooner told
Fairfax. "This trend underscores how difficult it is to move beyond moderate levels of economic growth in the current global environment. Figures like those we saw on Friday mean the Fed will see no need to hurry in making its next rate move."
A downbeat morning across Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite retreat 0.12%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.33% and Japan's Nikkei 1.16%. Dow futures were recently off ten points or 0.06%.
Gold futures consolidated Friday's gains with an advance of $2.20 or 0.2% to US$1.245.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.26 US cents.
The gold sector is enjoying its best session in about three years, but unfortunately most of that upside was baked into the opening prices. One of the negatives of being a trailling market. There were a few pips available, but not much of a safety net when shares opened 9% higher, so I stayed away. Our resident gold specialist
@Speckledjim must have had a good day? Trading: mixed morning. Totally underestimated how far NMT would run, so missed the main event. Had wins in EXC and MCT. Bailed too early on a suicidal trade in IAG. Still in GSC and KAI.
