Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:Australian shares rebounded...

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares rebounded this morning as US futures and Asian markets rallied and fears of Cyprus bank tax contagion abated.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 23 points or 0.5% stronger at 5039. The index earlier touched a session high of 5057. Gold +2.2% was the pick of the sectors but traders also waded back into financials +1%, metals & mining +1% and small caps +0.9%.

"Investors are not overly concerned about the potential for political contagion from the imposition of a deposit tax in Cyprus," Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, told Bloomberg. "Investors and bank depositors appear to accept assurances that this is a one-off measure that would not be imposed on citizens of larger debtor nations elsewhere in Europe."

Asian markets recouped some of yesterday's heavy losses. Shanghai 0.54%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.43% and Japan's Nikkei 1.86%. Dow futures were recently up 23 points or less than 0.2%.

The Reserve Bank this morning left the door open for further rate cuts but said there were signs that recent cuts were helping the weakest parts of the economy.

"Interest-rate-sensitive parts of the economy continued to show signs of responding to these low rates and it was likely that this still had further to run," the minutes from the last RBA meeting, released this morning, said. "At this meeting, the board's assessment was that, while further reductions may be required, on the information currently to hand it was appropriate to hold rates steady, and to assess further developments over the period ahead."

Crude oil futures edged up four cents this morning to US$93.75 a barrel. Spot gold was 50 cents weaker at US$1,6030 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0394.



Guys, tomorrow's pre-market wrap will be a little later than usual - likely 8.15/8.30-ish. If anyone feels strongly about that, start the pre-market thread and I'll pitch in when ready. Today's trading: a pretty tepid bounce compared to the vigorous rebounds we've seen following previous sell-offs over the last month. Too much uncertainty, I guess, with the Cyprus parliamentary vote still in the balance. As for me, a low-key morning. Got a part-fill in TNP at the low and squeezed a few points out of PGI from the low 8s. Got some of Thursday's IRE away near the morning high but probably should have dumped the lot.