Afternoon trading March 15

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    Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


    Half-time round-up:

    Delays in Brexit and a US-China trade deal kept a lid on Aussie shares after a listless night on Wall Street.

    A brief morning rally on the local market quickly ran out of puff as investors prepared for a long wait for clarity on the two big macroeconomic issues overhanging global equity markets. The ASX 200 dropped four points or less than 0.1 per cent to 6176 after being up as much as 18 points in early action.

    Overnight British MPs voted to postpone the UK's exit from the European Union for at least three months. While expected, the vote did nothing to lift the uncertainty clouding Brexit, with no guarantee EU member states will agree to an extension or certainty that a delay will help a fractured UK parliament strike an exit plan acceptable to a majority of MPs. The next move appears to a be a third vote next week on a tweaked version of a plan that parliament has twice rejected.

    Across the Pacific, US stocks closed mixed but little changed after President Donald Trump said it could be three-four weeks before he knows if a trade deal with China is possible. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed seven points or 0.03 per cent higher, while the broader S&P 500 finished 0.09 per cent in the red.

    With no major economic news here this morning to change the narrative, the market tracked sideways. The best performer on the ASX 200 was baby-formula maker Bellamy's, which rallied more than 6 per cent as momentum traders took their cue from yesterday's six-month closing high.

    Construction company Cimic - formerly known as Leighton - rose 2.5 per cent after winning a new contract to provide services at Woodside Energy's Karratha gas plant in WA.

    Financial services group Perpetual had been one of the week's star performers until today, rising 15 per cent on takeover speculation. However, shares in the company slumped 4.3 per cent after the ASX asked for an explanation for the rise and the company attributed the move to change of direction from the CEO. That was not what traders looking for a quick profit wanted to hear, so down went the share price.

    Turning to Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei put on 0.85 per cent ahead of a rate policy statement due today from the Bank of Japan. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.4 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.1 percent. US index futures were cautiously positive, S&P 500 futures lately ahead four points or more than 0.1 per cent.


    Crude oil futures retraced nine cents or 0.2 per cent this morning to $US58.52 a barrel. Gold futures were flat at $US1,294.50 an ounce.

    The dollar was buying 70.76 US cents.


    The trading week draws to a close in the US tonight with a swag of mostly second-tier data, including consumer sentiment, industrial production and job openings.

    Trading: annoyed at missing EM1. Gift horse. Squeezed a couple of pips out of CDX during the fleeting bounce. Lucky.

 
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