daytrading may 3 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Shares are little changed for a second morning as gains in the big banks and defensive sectors offset falls in resource stocks.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down four points or 0.1% at 4431, hovering near yesterday's nine-month closing high. The financial sector recouped 0.3% of yesterday's fall after a record profit result from WBC. Overnight falls in commodity prices helped push the energy sector down 0.7%, gold stocks 0.8% and metals & mining 0.6%. Small caps were also notably weak, with the Small Ords falling 0.7%.

"The market is very quiet in the lead up to the budget next Tuesday," EL&C Baillieu Stockbroking director Richard Morrow told Fairfax. "It seems to be still not finalised at present, and that's keeping a lid on things."

Asian markets lost ground this morning after evidence of slowing growth in China's services industry. The non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index eased to 56.1 last month from 58 in March. Shanghai was little changed at -0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.5%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a public holiday. Dow futures were recently off five points or less than 0.1%.

Australia's services sector contracted at the fastest pace in three years during April. The AiG/CBA Performance of Services Index slumped 7.4 points to 39.6 points, well below the 50-point level that indicates expansion.

Crude oil futures dropped another 25 cents this morning to US$105.12 a barrel. Spot gold was $6.40 weaker at US$1,647.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0296.


Ouch. That services sector report is a shocker and confirms - if it was needed - that the Reserve Bank sat on their hands too long this year. Speaking of ouch, I'm not having much of a morning. Caught a small bounce in CPL but profits there are more than offset by a premature entry in AGO - thought there was a solid chance of a bounce before this level.