Australian shares this morning broke new ground for the year before paring gains ahead of a Chinese economic update and amid a developing share-price manipulation scandal.
The ASX 200 was up 45 points or 1% at 4573 moments before the release of quarterly Chinese GDP data. The index earlier hit a new 14-month high of 4581, propelled by gains in metals & mining +2.7%, materials +2.4% and energy +1.6%.
The advance was overshadowed by questions over price propping affecting a number of large caps at this morning's market open. Shares in ANZ, ANN, ALL, AMP, AGK, BOQ and BXB opened sharply higher before quickly retreating to levels nearer yesterday's closes. Speculation centred around bets on XJO index options. Read more here.
Asian markets rallied for a third day following overnight gains in the US and Europe. Shanghai put on 0.66%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.61% and Japan's Nikkei 1.26%. Dow futures were recently down eight points or less than 0.1%.
Business confidence and conditions improved last quarter but remained well below boom-time levels, according to a NAB survey released this morning. The confidence index rose to -2 from -3 in the June quarter. Conditions rallied from -2 to +1.
"Global uncertainties, the persistently high Australian dollar, weak forward orders and the impact of fiscal consolidation are weighing on firms' future expectations," NAB chief economist Alan Oster told Fairfax.
Crude oil futures inched seven cents ahead this morning to US$92.07 a barrel. Spot gold was 90 cents firmer at US$1,751 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.038.
Little evidence that traders expected anything too nasty to come out of China about now. Days like this are important for restoring confidence in the market and great for buy-and-hold investors, not so easy for traders. I generally wait for pullbacks before buying and that strategy left me with precious little to do this morning. I had half a dozen potential buys ready but the blighters barely budged. Sold the last of my GWA.
