Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Shares edged...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares edged higher this morning but looked set to end the week in the red for the third time in a month as investors held fire ahead of tonight's US jobs report.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was ahead by three points or less than 0.1% at 5648, well short of the 5714 mark where it started the week. A directionless morning saw gains in the health sector +1.4%, gold +1.5% and telecoms +0.9% largely cancelled by declines in metals & mining -1%, energy -0.6% and financials -0.1%.

Investors appeared reluctant to place bets ahead of a January US employment update tonight, which may determine whether the Federal Reserve raises its key rate next month.

"A strong reading in the payrolls data above 200,000 coupled with a rise in wage growth could put the March 15th meeting in serious contention for a hike despite uncertainty around the potential flow on effects from Trump’s stated economic policies," James Woods, global investment analyst at Rivkin Securities, told Reuters.

China's Shanghai Composite resumed trade after the Lunar New Year holiday with a dip of 0.2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.15% and Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.49%. Dow futures were recently off ten points or 0.05%.

Crude oil futures rose 27 cents or 0.5% this morning to US$53.81 a barrel. Gold futures dropped $2.60 or 0.21% to US$1,216.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.6 US cents.


Trading: peanut session so far. Took ESR too early and had to raise the stakes at lower levels to get out with a skinny profit. Couple of pips from a partfill in EPT. Small speculators in GGG and MMJ. All a bit underwhelming.