Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: A five-month...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A five-month low in gold stocks and profit-taking in other resource sectors helped drag the ASX lower despite a rally in US equity futures.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 53 points or 1% weaker at 5318 and on track for its first loss since Wednesday when global markets were roiled by Donald Trump's upset victory over Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election. Driving the decline were a 6.7% dive in the gold sector to its lowest point since June and falls of 2.6% in metals & mining and 2% in materials as the US dollar hit a nine-month high. The materials sector hit a 20-month high on Friday as traders bet on increased demand for commodities under a Trump presidency.

"The materials space has been where the short-term traders have been active all year, especially those who focus on trend and momentum," IG chief market strategist Chris Weston told Fairfax. "That being said, the outperformance in this space is now so great for those who are cautious when others are greedy then this sector is one that is just a little too hot."

US futures surged this morning with the US dollar. Dow futures were recently ahead 79 points or 0.42%. Japan's Nikkei improved 1.47%. China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.11% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.73%.

Gold remained under pressure after a horror week. US gold futures were lately down $7.80 or 0.65% at US$1,217.20 an ounce, near to the May low. Crude oil futures bounced a tepid four cents or 0.09% to US$43.45 a barrel. The dollar was buying 75.34 US cents.


Nasty mix of headwinds for us today - two banks trading without their dividends, profit-taking in the miners, a six-month low in gold. Market ignoring those US futures. Goldies copping a fearful pounding. Had a hard look at a couple but didn't see enough signs of a bounce. Got the week off to a solid start with NHF and GPP.