Thanks Brit and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Australian...

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares neared a two-month high this morning as a recovery in resource prices helped mining stocks and market sentiment.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 43 points or 0.9% head at 5064 after earlier rising to its highest point since the first week of January. The metals & mining sector led the push, advancing 2.7% on the back of overnight improvements in iron ore, crude oil and base metals. Also strong were materials +2%, financials +1.3% and the Small Ords +0.8%.

“Global markets have broadly had a much better time of it in recent weeks as speculation rises that the early-year pessimism was overcooked, particularly regarding the US," Sharon Zollner, senior economist at ANZ Bank New Zealand, told Bloomberg. "However, while a calmer assessment is very welcome, there are some fundamental issues that haven’t gone away.”

Asian markets continued to recover. China's Shanghai Composite improved 0.59%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.22% and Japan's Nikkei 1.11%. Dow futures were recently 20 points or 0.12% stronger.

Crude oil futures rallied 14 cents this morning to US$34.80 a barrel. Spot gold was $3.20 cheaper at US$1,238.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.02 US cents.


Sympathies for the TON shareholders. Most of us have to learn the hard way that the real story is always in the share price. I rode a couple to the grave in my early trading years before I learned the lesson. It's an expensive education. Once you've paid for it, use it. Trading: TSV paid off handsomely from yesterday, though I won't pretend I got all the cream. More recently, RYG offered a nice entry on pullback. Haven't had it all my own way - was too optimistic about the likelihood of a bounce-back in CTX - underwater at present.