Thanks Brit and morning crew. Half-time round-up: A rebound in...

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A rebound in the big banks helped offset heavy selling in resource stocks this morning, pushing the ASX towards a potential fourth straight advance.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was four points or 0.1% ahead at 5325 after earlier dipping as low as 5288 following sharp overnight falls in iron ore, gold and crude oil. The metals & mining sector led the selling, falling 4.6%, followed by gold -3.9%, materials -2.9% and energy -2.7%. Cushioning the fall were gains in financials +1.2%, telecoms +0.6% and consumer staples +0.4%.

“Two developing macro themes are set to dominate markets in the near term: the continued gain in the [US] dollar and the pullback in the oil price,” Angus Nicholson, markets analyst at IG, told Bloomberg. "Commodities are set for a tough time in a stronger dollar environment, but news that China may be pulling back on its aggressive first-quarter stimulus is also driving prices lower.”

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite inched 0.08% higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.32% and Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.5%. Dow futures were recently 26 points or 0.15% ahead.

Crude oil futures declined another 10 cents or 0.23% this morning to US$43.34 a barrel. Gold futures were 60 cents or 0.05% softer at US$1,266 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.27 US cents.


The XJO appears determined to take a look at 5400. Keeps on overcoming negative/lacklustre leads to inch higher. Be interesting to see what happens when it finally gets unequivocally positive leads. Trading: grinding my way towards a wage, but no fireworks today. Early win in BSL followed by slow burns in GRY and BDR.