Stocks neared a seven-week low this morning, declining for a sixth session in the last seven as US futures declined ahead of this afternoon's Chinese manufacturing report.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 57 points or 1.4% at 4075 and on track for its weakest close since October 6. The benchmark index has fallen more than 210 points over the last seven sessions. All sectors lost ground this morning, led by metals & mining -1.6% and financials -1.6%.
"The focus is very much still in Europe," OptionsExpress market analyst Ben Le Brun told Fairfax. "There's still the fears in the euro-zone and, unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will change in the short to medium term until some of these structural issues start to get addressed."
Asian markets retreated ahead of the 1.30pm AEST release of last month's Chinese manufacturing report. Shanghai fell 0.1% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.89%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a public holiday. Dow futures were recently off 86 points or 0.75%.
The domestic market was largely unmoved by an unexpectedly large jump in construction last quarter. Total construction work increased 12.5%, more than six times the median market forecast of a 2% rise.
Crude oil futures fell 59 cents this morning to US$97.29 a barrel. Spot gold was $7.40 stronger at US$1,707.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 98.06 US cents.
Can't find many positives in this morning's action. Down, down and no real sign of a bounce yet. Not sure why US futures are so weak - might be after-market talk of credit rating downgrades following the failure of the deficit super-committee (was ever a committee less appropriately named)? Plenty of opportunities for buying pull-backs this morning, but can't say many have delivered for me yet. Caught MML at the low for a nice quick bounce. Waiting for any recovery in NVT, MEL and IFL.
