The share market briefly topped this year's highest close before falling back towards even as some traders took profits ahead of the start of the financial reporting season.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was one point or less than 0.1% ahead at 5925 after earlier rising as high as 5947. A positive close today would seal a seven-session winning run for the benchmark index.
A mixed market saw gains in utilities +0.8%, consumer staples +0.7% and IT +0.6% offset by declines in energy -0.8%, metals & mining -0.6% and financials -0.1%.
The banking half-yearly reporting cycle gets underway tomorrow with an update from ANZ and continues with NAB on Thursday and Macquarie on Friday. The financials index struck a one-year high this morning before easing.
"The ASX 200 financial sub-sector needs to hold and build on its break of 7000 and from here make an assault on the 2015 highs which is a mere 2.8% away," IG strategist Chris Weston told Fairfax. "Interestingly, the all-time high for the sub-index (from 2007) sits 7.8% away, which seems far more attainable than the broader ASX 200, which needs to appreciate 15.6% to print a new all-time high."
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.41%. Trading on China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was suspended for the May Day holiday. Dow futures were recently up 17 points or 0.08%.
Crude oil futures drifted three cents or 0.06% lower this morning to US$49.30 a barrel. Gold futures shed $3.10 or 0.24% to US$1,265.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 74.84 US cents.
The bull market at the big end continues to deny funds to the spec end where most of us fish. Quarterly reporting season also tends to be a market dampener since the specs run more on hope and hype than hard numbers. We could use some new themes at the small end. Marijuana has reached the mainstream media, a sure sign the best of the boom is behind us. That's not to say there won't be money to be made, but the froth will likely settle down. Trading: scraped a win out of BLK. Part-fill in ADR.
