So where did Monday’s bullishness go yesterday?
After the 104 point surge on Monday, the enthusiasm for the Trump-China ceasefire and the OPEC production cap ran out of puff when it got to Wall Street.
An early 500 point gain for the Dow in Asian futures trading ended up as an advance of 287 points and losses of more than 100points in late Asian futures trading on Tuesday.
The ASX responded to the weaker trend from the US and spent the day wandering south – broken by a late morning gain which then reversed – to where it ended down 1% or 58 points.
That’s despite the Reserve Bank leaving interest rates on hold for a 16th meeting and generally being upbeat about the outlook.
The Commonwealth Bank’s afternoon sag saw the shares close down 1% at $70.80. Westpac was worse – off 1.4% at $25.89, ANZ lost 1.3% to $26.36 and NAB fell 0.9% to $24.38.
Wesfarmers dragged, falling 2.4% to $30.95.
Metcash shares were sold off for a second day, shedding 7.2% to $2.44 taking the two-day loss to more than 12%.
Resources took a hit, BHP shares dropped 0.6% to $31.62, Rio Tinto shares were off 2% at $73.51 and South32 closed 3.3% lower at $3.21.
Syrah Resources slumped 8% to $1,66, Western Areas fell 7.6% to $2,18 and Lynas Corp closed fell nearly 6% to $2.12.
But with gold rising, it was better news for that sector. Newcrest Mining shares rose 0.8% to $20.62, St Barbara advanced 3.9% to $4.25 and Evolution Mining edged up 1.3% to $3.21.
