The share market edged towards a fourth day of tepid gains as weakness among the big banks capped gains from the resource sector.
The ASX 200 crept up 17 points or 0.3% to 5859 but continued to under-perform relative to Wall Street. Overnight, the S&P 500 rallied 1.07% to a one-month high. In contrast, the local market has struggled this week with overhead resistance from the downtrend established since January.
This morning, gains in energy +1.2%, metals & mining +0.9%, materials +0.7% and consumer discretionary +1.3% were partly offset by falls in telecoms -0.9%, health -0.3% and financials -0.2%. The financial sector was dangerously near its lowest close in a year and a half as the Royal Commission into banking continued to undermine appetite for the sector.
S&P 500 futures were recently up four points or 0.15% as a positive start to the US earnings season boosted risk appetite. A mixed morning in Asia saw China's Shanghai Composite fall 0.82% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.15%, while Japan's Nikkei put on 1.29%.
Crude oil futures improved 32 cents or 0.48% this morning to US$66.84 a barrel. Gold futures declined $2.10 or 0.16% to US$1,347.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 77.65 US cents.
The XJO looks to be butting up against the 2018 downtrend but has yet to make a convincing breakout. Can we do it? Yes we c.... actually, I don't know. Maybe. There's not a lot of momentum here. The Royal Commission has turned out to be a pretty big headwind for a dominant market sector. Trading: underwater on IVX. Looked promising until the 18m cap at 2.9c turned up. Dunno if it's a shorter or an accumulator. Bought a few more lower down. I've been more optimistic about a trade.
