Thanks Mitta and morning crew. Half-time round-up:...

Thanks Mitta and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

End-of-quarter institutional window dressing helped propel the ASX towards its strongest rise in four weeks as a global rally stuttered this morning.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 68 points or 1.4% ahead at 5078 and on track for its biggest gain since a 99-point surge on March 2. A broad rally was spearheaded by metals & mining +1.9%, energy +1.8%, consumer discretionary +1.8% and financials +1.5%.

The gains came on the last day of a losing quarter for the benchmark index, which has declined almost 200 points since the start of the year and struggled to match global peers this week.

"Concerns over the Aussie banks and their rising bad and doubtful debts has seen the ASX significantly underperform major bourses globally all week," IG strategist Angus Nicholson told Fairfax. "BHP and Rio both had a stellar session on the FTSE gaining nearly 6 per cent, respectively, and CBA's American Depository Receipt gained 0.7% in the US session making one cautiously optimistic for the open today... The big question is whether it can hold it as it has consistently given away its early session highs throughout the session all week."

Several Asian markets gave up early gains as crude oil turned south. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was last off 0.02% and Japan's Nikkei down 0.23%. China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.22%. Dow futures were off 12 points or 0.07%.

Crude oil futures slid 31 cents or 0.8% this morning to US$38.01 a barrel. Gold futures were $1 or 0.1% firmer at US$1,229.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.54 US cents.


Some downward pressure developing from crude, but the instos will likely ensure that most of today's advance holds to the end of the session - bonuses often depend on quarterly performance. Some of the buying will likely unwind tomorrow, regardless of how Wall Street goes tonight. Trading: Early bounce wins in 88E and IOT. All gone a bit quiet since then.