Australian shares are on track for a third straight loss as regional markets react to overnight weakness on Wall Street and US futures wallow in the red.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 29 points or nearly 0.6% weaker at 5223 as a broad decline lowered all sectors except energy +0.2% and property trusts +0.2%. Leading the retreat were gold stocks -1%, metals & mining -0.8% and financials -0.8%.
"The increasingly ugly debate on the US fiscal position is certainly a primary concern for markets," Angus Gluskie, chief investment officer at White Funds Management, told Bloomberg. "Markets are comforted by the realisation that the Fed is not going to rush at it. They are much more likely to go slowly at the tapering."
Asian markets reflected the downbeat global tone this week. Shanghai slipped 1.03%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.11% and Japan's Nikkei 0.71%. Dow futures were recently down 14 points or 0.1%.
Crude oil futures slipped five cents this morning to US$103.39 a barrel. Spot gold bounced $3.30 to US$1,326.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 94.12 US cents.
It's not often I reach for the headmaster's cane but the overall standard of post here has slipped over the last few weeks and it's time to get the day trading threads back on track. Ninety-eight per cent of readers can ignore this. To the other 2%: fresh blood and enthusiasm are welcome here, wishful thinking and repeatedly ramping your own book are not. Don't under-estimate the collective intelligence here. The fact you own a share is not sufficient reason to post. It doesn't matter how positive you are about a share's prospects, if you post about it five times in two hours you are going to annoy people. You should expect to get moderated and many of the regulars here will add your name to their "Ignore" list. There is enough "noise" in the market without further additions. Please think before you post. Substantiate your trading ideas. Try to add value. Thank you for reading.
