Thanks Gttrain. Half-time round-up:Unexpectedly strong Chinese...

Thanks Gttrain.

Half-time round-up:

Unexpectedly strong Chinese trade data helped steady Australian shares this morning as a regional index pushed towards a five-year closing high.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 41 points or 0.8% stronger at 5184 with all sectors advancing except health -2%, gold -0.3% and consumer staples -0.3%. Among the morning leaders were metals & mining +1.9%, industrials +1.3% and financials +0.8%.

The market extended gains after robust Chinese trade figures alleviated concerns about a slowdown in our largest trading partner. Exports increased by 14.7% last month from a year earlier and imports improved 16.8% for a surplus of US$18.16 billion. Both figures were well ahead of economists' expectations. Read more here.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 0.9% as Asian markets welcomed the Chinese data. Shanghai rallied 0.38%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.65% and Japan's Nikkei 1.33%. Dow futures were recently up eight points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures eased three cents this morning to US$95.59 a barrel. Spot gold was $7.50 stronger at US$1,456.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0183.


The upside economic surprises just keep coming: a rate cut here yesterday, US jobs at the end of last week and now some decent Chinese news. There is some scepticism over the Chinese figures - read more here. - but there's a nice theme developing after two months of steady disappointment. Not much strength in the specs today, with OGX and CDY failing to extend their opens. The former company can expect a few irate calls after what appears a pretty cynical exercise this morning. I struggled to find trades once again, so fell back on what worked yesterday - GFF - and just dipped a toe in WHG. High risk - may well lose the toe.