ASX ends day in positive territory
Geopolitical risks and another bout of weak Chinese data kept a lid on the Australian sharemarket but volume well below average allowed the bulls to keep the market in the black.
The S&P/ASX 200 index traded in a narrow range before closing 20.6 points, or 0.37 per cent, up at 5587.1, the high of the day, as miners lost ground and investors delivered a negative response to National Australia Bank's quarterly earnings update.
Investors mostly shrugged off a 17 per cent fall in Chinese foreign direct investment and "visibly weak" Chinese housing data that threatened growth targets in the world's second biggest economy.
The Shanghai composite index was up 0.3 per cent at the close of the ASX as stimulus hopes were stoked by data that showed the broad house price weakness in China's 70 major cities as 88 per cent, or 64 cities saw declining prices.
"Developers continue to discount aggressively to clear their stock on hand and sellers are maintaining abundant supply in the secondary market," Westpac Chian economist Huw McKay said. "Both the new and secondary markets are now recording a greater breadth of price declines than at the trough of the previous cycle.
In Tokyo the Nikkei index was marginally firmer.
The Australian dollar was steady at US93.20¢ but government 10-year bond yields tumbled 5 points to 3.338 per cent after global safe-haven demand was stoked by the disputed reports that Ukraine had destroyed a Russia armoured vehicle.
US Federal Reserve president James Bullard did his best to persuade markets they were wrong on pricing in such a weak growth scenario but his comments were ignored.
Global benchmark US Treasury bond yields tumbled 10 points to a low 2.30 per cent, before settling 5 points down at 2.35 per cent while German two-years traded below zero per cent and German 1o-years dropped below one per cent.
M Bulalrd said Global benchmark US treasury bond yields tumbled 5 points to a month low of 2.35 per cent while German two-years traded below zero per cent and German 1o-years dropped below 0ne per cent.
Mr Bullard said the market was trading "too dovishly compared to the committee. I think that's probably a mistake".
On Friday equity sentiment was knocked by falls in US consumer confidence and the Empire Manufacturing survey while producer and consumer price inflation met forecasts.
Spot iron ore rose 0.2 per cent to $US93.40 a tonne on Friday while Dalian iron ore futures were off 0.4 per cent today.
Gold lost $US5 to $US1300 an ounce while copper climbed 0.8 per cent to $US6885 a tonne.
More to come…
