Thanks Endless. Also Elfy for the compliment this morning.
Half-time round-up:
Australian shares surrendered early gains this morning as the dollar slumped to a 19-month low and Asian markets traded mixed.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was flat at 4971 after earlier running as high as 4991. An upbeat morning for metals & mining +1.4%, industrials +1.1%, health +2.1% and consumer discretionary +1.4% was nullified by falls in financials -0.4% and yield stocks, including Telstra, Westfield and Wesfarmers.
The dollar continued its dive against the greenback as disappointing domestic construction figures compared unfavourably to upbeat overnight news in the US. The dollar was lately buying 95.75 US cents after earlier touching its lowest level since late 2011. Data this morning showed construction activity declined 2% during the March quarter.
"The currency is at risk of falling as low as 93 US cents in the short term, and its movements will be dependent on upcoming local economic data such as capex, the Reserve Bank's board meeting next week and first-quarter gross domestic product figures," Westpac chief currency strategist Robert Rennie told Fairfax. "I would certainly anticipate that as we start to move into the low 90s-93/94 US cents that we will start to see some more demand coming through for the Aussie. It means that we've had a material correction."
Japan's Nikkei was lately up 0.1% after opening strong, then slipping into the red. Shanghai edged up 0.26% but Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.72%. Dow futures were recently off 12 points or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures slipped 25 cents this morning to US$94.86 a barrel. Spot gold bounced $9.40 to US$1,389.40 an ounce.
Looks like another currency-driven sell-off this morning, with international money dumping yield stocks as the falling Aussie cuts into profits. The resource sector is surprisingly upbeat - to be more accurate, I'm surprised but Fairfax quoted a bloke at Bell Potter who wasn't. He says the big miners are a buy and the banks a sell. He has seven pages of something or other to back him up, and all I have is a few half-baked notions, so you should listen to him. All the same, I'm back in the winner's circle this morning after a CAB ride to misery yesterday. Took a nice chunk out of the bounce in CGF and rode one of perambulations in SEK. Scalped CPL and just took a high-risk position in DTE - pure intraday bounce play. Missed an entry at the BGS low by a couple of orders.
