Thanks Endless. Cgull, good to see you're back and bowling good line and length.
Half-time round-up:
Australian shares avoided the worst of a global sell-off this morning as jobs numbers topped expectations and US futures rebounded
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 36 points or 0.8% weaker at 4480 after earlier dropping as low as 4460. All sectors were trading in the red. The defensive consumer staples -0.2% and consumer discretionary sectors -0.5% weathered the storm best.
The market bottomed around 10.30 and extended its gains after the 11.30am EST release of jobs figures that suggested the economy may be stabilising. The economy created 18,700 jobs full-time last month and lost 8000 part-time jobs for a net gain of 10,700. A drop in participation helped keep the jobless rate steady at 5.4%. The news helped the dollar put on around a quarter of a cent to US$1.0422.
"We're not convinced this pace of job creation will continue given what the leads are telling us - and the softer pace of growth in the economy - but for now you've got to take the numbers at face value and they suggest a moderate-type economy," RBC Capital Markets economist Su-Lin Ong told Fairfax. "It probably falls in the side of the ledger of the RBA staying on the sidelines for a bit longer. It's going to sit with their view that the labour market is softer but still in reasonable shape."
Declines in Asia were cushioned by a recovery in US futures this morning. Dow futures were recently up 36 points or 0.3%. Shanghai dropped 1.08%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.37% and Japan's Nikkei 1.17%.
Crude oil futures rallied 26 cents this morning to US$84.86 a barrel. Spot gold was 60 cents stronger at US$1,718.70 an ounce.
Australia remains a buy-the-dip market. To be honest, this morning was my favourite type of trading set-up with opportunities to make a very good day's wage in the first half-hour and then bludge off for the rest of the session. Bounces in CNO, BUX and MAT delivered the goods in the opening flurry. I'm back into MAT now for a second look.
