Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:Stocks pushed to a...

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Stocks pushed to a four-and-a-half month high this morning before early gains were tempered by pullbacks in Chinese shares and US futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead five points or 0.1% at 4394 after earlier touching the index's highest level since early May. The rally came as gains in cyclical sectors outweighed losses among defensives. The metals & mining sector advanced 2%, materials 1.6% and financials 0.4% while health retreated 2.2%, utilities 1.8% and consumer staples 0.8%.

Asian markets gave up early gains, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng easing 0.02% and Shanghai losing 0.92%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a bank holiday. Dow futures were recently off 37 points or 0.3%.

The first domestic economic figures of the new week suggested Australian consumers are getting more willing to open their wallets: new car sales hit record levels last month, according to ABS figures released this morning. Sales increased a seasonally-adjusted 3.6% to 93,379.

Crude oil futures improved 20 cents this morning to US$99.26 a barrel. Spot gold firmed 30 cents to US$1,773.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0528.


Dunno what's causing the weakness in Shanghai and US futures. Something over the weekend or just profit-taking/caution after a nice bump higher? Meanwhile, there's a very obvious rotation going on here this morning from defensives into cyclicals that bodes well for risk appetite. I stuck to my strengths this morning, scalping a few points off PRY's first bounce and then re-entering. Part-fill in AZM at the low. Hoping for a couple of points from DUE this arvo.