Thanks Shants - onya for picking up the morning reins from Haplo.
Half-time round-up:
Shares hit a four-session low before paring their losses as job ads pointed to an improving labour market, US futures traded positive and select defensive sectors found buyers.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 21 points or 0.4% ahead at 5297 but on the improve after falling as low as 5278. Sharp falls in gold stocks -4.4%, metals & mining -1.9% and materials -1.6% were cushioned by rallies in health stocks +0.6%, telecoms +0.1% and property trusts +0.1%.
The index pared its losses as US equity futures hinted at a continuation of Friday's relief rally and September job advertising was the strongest for 19 months. Emini Dow futures were recently up 29 points or almost 0.2%. Back home, ANZ's monthly survey showed total job advertisements increased by 0.9% last month to an average of 137,087 per week.
"The gradual improvement in ANZ Job Ads is an encouraging sign that labour demand is solidifying," ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan told Fairfax. "Other leading indicators of labour demand such as business conditions, profitability and capacity utilisation also point to some trend improvement."
Japan's Nikkei rallied 1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.38%. Trading on China's Shanghai Composite remained suspended for public holidays.
Crude oil futures eased three cents this morning to US$89.71 a barrel. Spot gold was $3.90 weaker at US$1,186.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 86.91 US cents.
Grim morning for goldbugs. Many of the goldies I track seem to be disappearing off the lower right-hand of the charts these days. For those looking for hope in the broader market, Fairfax found a fundie who sees the latest dump as a buying opportunity: read here. LNG provided its daily adrenaline rush this morning - I caught some of the bounce but should have had more. Mitta, you taken profits on your short? Nice trade. Also got something out of MLX and a 50% bounce in one of my sleepers. Wish the others were as willing.
