Retailers were leading the way, up 1.3 per cent, while the big miners were again dragging their heels, down 0.67 per cent as a sector.
The Reject Shop had found 27 cents to $10.58 at noon while the world’s biggest miner BHP Billiton had shed 27 cents to $14.74.
Australia’s biggest gold miner Newcrest, was off by 44.5 cents to $12.755.
Wall Street finished a volatile session overnight up by 0.72 per cent.
Locally, investors will be looking to Thursday’s December jobs print, with most expecting a slight rise in the unemployment rate.
IG market strategist Angus Nicholson says expectations of some stability in the Chinese yuan and on the Chinese share market has resulted in a positive start for the local bourse, which has closed lower for the past eight sessions.
“It looks like we’re going to have a pretty good day on the ASX so far,” Nicholson said.
“Of course, what happens in China at 12.15pm and 12.30pm when we get the currency fix and the cash market open will have a lot of bearing on how we trade through the rest of the day.”
China’s recent moves to, first, devalue its currency to make it more competitive, and then to strengthen it, has raised concern over whether its government can control the economy and has generated volatility on world markets.
Nicholson said a lift in China stocks on Tuesday was interpreted as a sign the Chinese government was getting some of the ructions in currency and equity markets under control.
At 10.31am (AEDT) in the resources sector, oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum was up 12 cents at $27.20, but Santos was two cents lower at $2.93.
Global miner BHP Billiton dipped 44 cents to $14.57, Rio Tinto descended 74 cents to $38.41, and Fortescue Metals dipped four cents to $1.545.
Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank added 53 cents to $79.92, National Australia Bank climbed nine cents to $27.44, ANZ found 21 cents at $25.26, and Westpac put on 35 cents at $31.17.
Vaccum cleaner retailer Godfrey’s plunged 49 cents, or 30.82 per cent, to $1.10.
Godfreys chief executive Tom Krulis has paid the price for a big drop in first half profit that’s forced the vacuum cleaner retailer to slash its full year guidance.
ANZ economists said international rates markets continued their roller-coaster ride overnight, closing higher after further losses in resources sparked a turn around
“Hard commodity and energy prices, especially oil, remained under pressure,” they said.
Oil prices hit 12-year lows, falling below $US30 a barrel for the first time since 2003 on concerns of a supply glut. They later recovered some ground with WTI at $US30.84 and Brent at $US31.20 at 0842 AEDT.
“Bearish sentiment pervades as analysts estimate US crude stockpiles increased by two million barrels last week,” ANZ economists said.
And the CRB Index, which measures a basket of 19 global commodities, hit a new 14-year low overnight, sliding 1.3 per cent to take its decline so far this year to eight per cent.
“The broad sell-off in the commodity complex looks set to continue near term until the commodity market finds a new equilibrium,” they said.
At 0830 AEDT on Wednesday, the March 2016 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 97.255 (implying a yield of 2.745 per cent), up from 97.215 (2.785 per cent) on Tuesday.
The March 2016 three-year bond futures contract was at 98.040 (1.960 per cent), up from 97.010 (1.990 per cent).
NEW YORK – US stocks have closed a volatile trading session higher, but gains were capped as a rally in oil prices ran out of steam.
The S&P 500 held above the key 1,900 level, as it did on Monday, in a bullish technical sign.
“We managed to successfully close above it (on Monday) and that’s bringing in some buying … from a very oversold condition,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.
LONDON – Britain’s top share index has climbed higher, recovering from some of the previous session’s losses as the retail sector rallied on the back of solid results and upbeat industry data.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up one per cent at 5,929.24 points on Tuesday – still down 17 per cent from a record high of 7,122.74 points reached last April, with stock markets around the world having been impacted by a slowdown in China.
Retailers were among the best performers.
Germany’s DAX rose 160.36 points, or 1.63 per cent, to 4,378.75.
HONG KONG – Asian stocks closed mainly in the red for the fifth straight day, anchored near their lowest level in more than two years with investors rattled by the slump in oil prices and a surge in offshore Chinese yuan deposit rates.
Earlier, the People’s Bank of China forced up overnight deposit rates in Hong Kong to 66.8 per cent to ease the heavy downward pressure on the yuan, analysts said, an indication of the drastic measures required to cool Chinese market volatility.
As oil slid closer to falling below $US30 a barrel for the first time in 12 years, deflation-wary investors in Asia shunned equities and pushed the value of the safe-haven Japanese yen.
WASHINGTON – US job openings rose in November and employers appeared to have trouble finding qualified workers, a trend that could trigger a pick-up in wage growth this year.
LONDON – Oil company BP is cutting some 4000 jobs in exploration and production over the next two years amid sharp drops in the price of crude.
BEIJING – China’s auto sales rose 18.3 per cent in December over a year earlier on explosive demand for SUVs, pushing the year’s total sales to 21.1 million, an industry group reported Tuesday.
ENERGY
Oil has been dragged lower by a glut, China’s weakening economy and stock market turmoil, as well as the strong US dollar, which makes it more expensive for those using other currencies to buy oil.
“Oil prices have bounced just over $30 per barrel, in a weak fashion that brings dead cats to mind,” Seth Kleinman, head of energy research at Citigroup said.
PRECIOUS METALS
Gold has fallen for a third straight session as a rebound in European and US stock markets undermine the metal’s appeal as a haven from risk, and as the US dollar strengthens against a basket of currencies.
The metal pared losses as US and European shares came off their highs when depressed oil prices failed to sustain a rally, while the US dollar rose for the third straight session.
The rise in stocks suggested risk appetite is recovering after last week’s rout.
“(We’re) looking for gold to perhaps get down to the $US1,055-1,060 level as we expect a bounce in the equity markets to continue on account of earnings that likely will be no worse than estimates, stabilising macro readings from a number of countries, including China … and a possible jump in oil,” said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
BASE METALS
Nickel prices have slid to their weakest levels in more than 12 years, amid worries about high inventories, while copper sunk to fresh six-and-a-half-year lows on persistent worries over China’s economy.
Weak demand from the stainless steel sector, the dominant source of demand for nickel, and a glut of supply has hammered prices.
HSBC analyst Ash Lazenby said nickel ore stockpiles were high at 773,000 tonnes and would take about three years to halve.
“We cut our price forecasts … reflecting a protracted recovery as a result of slow supply discipline and heightened inventory levels,” he said in a note.
ASX stocks to watch on Wednesday, January 13
BHP – BHP BILLITON
FMG – FORTESCUE METALS GROUP
RIO – RIO TINTO: Iron ore hits the $US40 mark, losing 90 US cents overnight.
OSH – OILSEARCH
STO – SANTOS
WPL – WOODSIDE PETROLEUM
Energy stocks could again suffer with WTI oil dropping more than two per cent to $US30.61 and Brent crude down 1.52 per cent at $31.07.
AAP
