ASX 200 pushes 18 points higher to 6995 (+0.3%). A tale of two cities with banks and industrials doing well and resources falling by the wayside. No sooner had a couple of brokers raised their forecast for iron ore than the miners staggered and slumped. Iron ore price easing and Chinese data not helping from yesterday. BHP down 1.9%, RIO off 2.0% and FMG falling 1.1%. Base metal stocks were under pressure too, with lithium also slipping away, IGO down 2.4% and MIN off 1.4%. Gold miners gave back some recent gains as safe haven bullion buying eased on a stronger USD. NEM down 4.7%, and NST off 1.2%. Oil and gas eased back, but not by much despite crude falls, WDS down 0.6%. Coal stocks steadied. Meanwhile, banks once again pushed higher, with WBC bouncing around up 1.5% and CBA firming by 0.7%. The Big Bank Basket up to $177.07 (+0.7%). MQG had a better day up 1.1%, with insurers also finding friends. MFG held a fiery AGM and got a first strike against pay. The stock rose 0.6%. REITs are in positive territory, led as always by GMG up 1.8%, and SGP rising 1.9%. Industrials firmed, interest rate sensitive stocks doing well, TCL up 1.3%, and REA firing 1.6% higher. TLS and ABB were winners from the Optus outage. Rising 1.3% and 1.9% respectively. Tech in demand, WTC up 2.3% and XRO rising 1.5%, with the All-Tech Index up 1.7%. In corporate news, JHX shot the lights out with quarterly results up 13.8%. Nothing on the economic front local, RBA produced its chart pack, always a highlight for economists. In Asian markets, Japan slipped 1.0%, China down slightly 0.1%, and HK higher, up 0.1%. 10Y yields continue to fall to 4.59%. Dow Futures down 20 points. NASDAQ Futures down 15 points.
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