Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:Shares are higher for a...

Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:

Shares are higher for a second day despite a mixed morning on Asian markets and weakness in US futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 42 points or nearly 1.1% at 4047. Property trusts +2.4%, gold stocks +2.4% and energy stocks +1.9% were the pick of the sectors. The defensive health +0.5% and telecoms sectors +0.7% lagged as optimism grew overnight that Europe is muddling towards a solution to its debt problems.

"It's looking more likely that Greece will get support," the chief economist at Resona Bank in Japan told Bloomberg. "Policy makers have been pushed to act because Europe's situation has gotten so bad. That's given stocks a little lift, but if real progress isn't made, we could see markets go right back down again."

US futures soured this morning as Asian markets produced a muted response to big overnight gains in Europe and North America. Dow futures were recently off 44 points or 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.18% this morning, Shanghai added 0.07% but Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.62%.

In domestic economic news, house prices fell for a second quarter, according to the NAB Property Index released this morning. The index eased 14 points this quarter, following a fall of five points last quarter.

Crude oil futures lost 59 cents this morning at US$83.16 a barrel. Spot gold was $15.70 weaker at US$1,636.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 98.87 US cents.


Guys, a head's up that I'll be taking two weeks off from Monday to help my ageing parents move house, returning to active HC service on Monday October 17. Won't be around to launch threads, so it would be great if someone could put their hand up to take over either the "Pre-market" or "Afternoon" launches. Please don't leave it all to Endless, fine operator though he is. Trading: a few warning signs this morning with oil, gold, Hong Kong and US futures all weakening. May or may not mean something. Just two trades for me this morning and both could have been better. Caught FAR at the low but sold too soon. Also took premature profits in VOR.