Thanks Famikea, 64 and morning crew. Glad Jim still has a leg to...

Thanks Famikea, 64 and morning crew. Glad Jim still has a leg to stand on.


Half-time round-up:

A solid early rally on the ASX ran out of puff by lunchtime as a rebound in the big banks faded.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 15 points or 0.3% ahead at 5019, 40 points off the morning high of 5059. The financials sector accounted for much of the retrace as it pared its rise to 0.1% amid on-going worries about bad debts in the mining industry following an increase in write-downs last week from ANZ and Westpac.

Gold was the best of the sectors, surging 3.9%. Also strong were utilities +1.4%, metals & mining +1% and property trusts +0.9%. Energy fell 0.4% telecoms 0.2% and consumer staples 0.2%.

The market's strong early advance followed strong hints overnight from US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that US rates will remain on hold for some time.

"Her speech this morning has painted a very dovish picture for the inflation outlook in 2016 and although she didn't directly use this term, she clearly sees the US economy as two-speed, " IG market strategist Evan Lucas told Fairfax. "Futures markets are now only pricing in one rate hike in 2016, at best... US equity markets have seen the comments as positive as the prospect of a tighter monetary policy in the US diminishes."

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite put on 1.41% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.45%. Japan's Nikkei shed 0.19%. Dow futures were recently 31 points or 0.18% higher.

Crude oil futures bounced 48 cents or 1.3% this morning to US$38.76 a barrel. Gold futures were $4 or 0.3% stronger at US$1,241.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.631 US cents.


Disappointing lack of conviction in this morning's rally, confirming that the big banks will be a drag until the market has factored in the psychological damage of last week's write-down announcements. Wall Street is now positive for the year, while we're well below where we started 2016. Trading: needed two swings to lock in a bounce profit in AUZ. Should have had OEL as well. Rode the initial rebound in SHV for a second straight day.