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

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares hit a 22-month high as takeover rumours continued to boost the market and Wall Street rallied on improving economic data.

The ASX 200 advanced 46 points or 0.8% this morning to 5867, a level last seen in May 2015. Topping the gains were the IT sector +1.6%, industrials +1.1% and energy +1.1%.

FXJ briefly touched its highest level in almost six years amid speculation about an offer from private equity. MYR, MTR and QIN also benefitted this week from rumours of potential takeover activity.

Overnight, the Dow broke its longest losing run in six years with a rally of 0.73% as traders welcomed upbeat economic news. Dow futures were recently up three points or 0.01%.

"The bullish picture for equities remains as the blame game around the failed repeal of the Obama healthcare act and politics in general take a back seat once again to real economic growth," IG analyst Gary Burton told Fairfax. "The March US consumer confidence number coming in 7% higher than forecast at 125.6 has helped the US dollar out of what was looking like a dire corrective move lower as it fell below the key psychological level of 100. US wage growth, the other measure of impending inflation and activity is trending towards an annual growth rate of 3%, with business expectations trending higher."


Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.21%, while China's Shanghai Composite and Japan's Nikkei both drifted 0.06%.

Crude oil futures put on nine cents or 0.19% this morning to US$48.46 a barrel. Gold futures slipped $7 or 0.56% to US$1,251.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.43 US cents.


The bull is roaring again. The XJO is finally kicking clear of 5800 at the fourth attempt. Having held out so long, hopefully that resistance level will now provide strong support on any retrace. Been a good week for passive investors, less action at the spec end. I've been getting buy more or less on one solid meal a day. Hoping IOT will deliver this arvo.