DT January 5 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A third day of gains pushed the ASX to a new 19-month high as resource stocks spearheaded the latest leg of the New Year rally.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 20 points or 0.3% ahead at 5756, the leading index's highest point since June 2015. The recovery in gold stocks gathered pace, pushing the local sector up 2.3% as US gold futures rallied $6.30 or 0.54% this morning to US$1,171.60 an ounce, around a four-week high. Also strong: telecoms +0.8%, metals & mining +0.8%, energy +0.8% and materials +0.6%.

Commodity prices improved overnight as the US dollar reacted to the minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting.

"Asia Pacific shares are set for further gains after the [US] dollar pulled back from [14-year] highs overnight," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, told CNBC.

China's Shanghai Composite improved 0.07% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.97%. Japan's export-focussed Nikkei, which favours a strong US dollar, dipped 0.12%. Dow futures were recently off seven points or 0.04%.

Crude oil futures eased 12 cents or 0.23% this morning to US$53.14 a barrel. The dollar was buying 72.89 US cents.


No sign yet that this rally is done. XJO has gone up in a straight line since the second week of November. Got to think we're due a retrace, but I can't see an obvious trigger in the short term. The market will cut Trump some slack for the first few weeks, but there will be a temptation to lock in profits before any disillusionment so we may start to see weakness in February/March? That's a lifetime in market terms. Trading: came in today desperate to get some runs on the board. Caught the lows in VRC and PME. A relief to finally open my 2017 account. I have hungry brokers to support.