MARKETS

A new month and a new week has started the same way the last month ended, with sellers in control. The ASX started the session with a 5 point loss before trading to the low point of the morning where the index chalked up a deficit of almost 47 points. Over the course of the morning there was little evidence that buyers saw value at the newly discounted levels which had taking the market to the lowest levels in around 6 weeks.

The Australian Dollar has opened this week's trading below the 85 cent level as commodity currencies remain under pressure.

US investors came back to from Thanksgiving on Friday and gave oil a mauling on the back of OPEC nations' inaction on Thursday.

In European economic data, German retail sales rose by 1.9% in real terms in October, above forecasts for a 1.7% gain and compares with the 2.8% fall in September sales.

The weak tone seen in the first half of the session remained over the course of the afternoon. The ASX 200 was unable to recover from the session lows which was where the index spent most of the session. Over the course of the week the index gained 0.16%

Cooling measures put in place by some Asian government such as Hong Kong and Singapore had displaced demand for real estate in the region. Because of the significant impact of the measures on transaction volumes, market experts foresee some of those restrictions being lifted in the next 12 months, forecasts Liam Bailey, global head of residential research at Knight Frank, in the white paper of leading property portal Lamudi.

Australian shares are posting their biggest daily losses in a month and a half following a huge slide in oil prices overnight. The ASX 200 Index is down 1.3 per cent and is being led lower by an energy sector slumping by close to 7 per cent at lunch.

With US markets closed for Thanksgiving, investors focused on European trade and the OPEC meeting. Yields in Europe continued to decline as markets continue to price in the possibility of QE. ECB President Mario Draghi spoke again and reinforced that all assets are under consideration should additional measures be required. This kept bond yields calm and drove European equities higher. Just to put it into perspective, the German 10-year fell to just 0.7%, while Spain's dropped to 1.89%.

Ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have decided to leave production quotas unchanged, resulting in a 6% slump in world oil prices.

Australian shares finished slightly higher on Thursday, adding to yesterday's 1.1 per cent surge. The ASX 200 Index closed a touch above the 5400pt level. This makes it three days of gains this week and takes the improvements over the past four days to 1.8 per cent.

The Australian market is improving for the second day and is trading around its best level in more than a week. The ASX 200 is up 0.1 per cent and remains slightly above the key 5400pt level. This follows a 1.1 per cent surge posted on Wednesday.

In US economic data: personal spending +0.2%, income +0.2%; durable goods orders +0.4%; weekly jobless claims +21,000 to 313,000; Chicago purchasing manager's index down from 66.2 to 60.8; pending home sales down 1.1%; new home sales +0.7%; consumer sentiment down from 89.4 to 88.8; weekly mortgage market index down 4.3% with purchases down 5.8%.

Australian shares made up for yesterday's modest 0.5 per cent tumble in full with the ASX 200 surging at the close to end 1.1 firmer. It continues to be a volatile affair for local stocks this week with shares up 1.1 per cent on Monday prior to Tuesday's falls.

The market volatility that has been a recent staple for local shares continued on Wednesday. The ASX 200 opened with a gain of 4 points before rallying to an improvement of 56 points at the morning highs. Thereafter the index consolidated within sight of the best levels of the day. The early improvements locally came despite flat results for European and US indices in the last 12 hours. European shares rose on Tuesday but gains in bank stocks were offset by weakness in resources. The FTSEurofirs...

In US economic data the consumer confidence index fell from 94.1 to 88.7 in November, well short of forecasts centred on a reading near 96.0. The Case Shiller home price index rose by 0.3% in September to be up 4.9% over the year. The US economy grew at a 3.9% annual pace in the September quarter, up from the 3.3% consensus forecast.

The AUD lost over 1% in overnight trade as the commodity free fall began to bite into the risk currency

The Australian market is having its worst day in close to six weeks with mining and energy stocks wiping out most of Monday's gains. The ASX 200 Index is down 0.9 per cent and remains just above the key 5300pt level. Local shares surged by 1.1 per cent yesterday following the surprise interest rate cuts in China.

Further record prints for the US markets overnight as stimulus from three of the four largest central banks, coupled with solid state specific economy data, allowed investors to keep the long auto-pilot on.

In US economic data the national activity index eased from +0.29 to +0.14 in October. The Markit services "flash" index eased from 57.1 to 56.3 in November. And the Dallas Federal Reserve index was steady at +10.5 in November.

Australian shares have surged on Monday with the ASX 200 Index up 1.1 per cent and closing above 5350pts. A surprise rate cut by China's central bank on Friday has led the mining and energy producing companies higher. This follows five consecutive days of weakness from local shares; the worst week in Australia since June 2013.

Gina Rinehart is the richest person in Australia and would likely remain that way for a long time. One reason behind her wealth, aside from inheriting Hancock Prospecting established by her father, Lang Hancock, is her bucking business trends.

The surprise of stimulus on Friday night saw a mass risk-on event for global risk equities.

The People's Bank of China (central bank) has cut the 12-month lending rate by 40 basis points to 5.60% and the 12-month deposit rate by 25bps to 2.75%.

The Australian sharemarket has finished the session weaker for a fifth straight day. The All Ords (XAO) slipped 0.2 percent to 5,292, while the S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) fell 0.2 percent to 5,304. Eight out of 10 sectors were lower, led by Utilities, which lost 1.5 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 has fallen 2.7 percent this week on heavy selling in the materials and energy sectors.

Australian shares are losing ground for the fifth day and remain only modestly above the 5300pt level. The ASX 200 Index is down by 0.1 per cent at lunch and takes the losses to 2.6 per cent this week. Should nothing change this afternoon this will be the worst week for local shares since June 2013.

Global markets were mixed as investors focusing on specific economic factors driving sentiment. Equities in the US managed to recover from the FOMC meeting minutes, with investors responding positively to some solid housing data and a sharp bounce in the Philly Fed manufacturing index. The CPI release was also interesting, coming in ahead of estimates; service prices drove the reading despite goods prices actually falling.

In the US, the Philadelphia Fed Business Activity Index lifted from 20.7 to 40.8 in October - its highest reading since 1993. The new orders sub-index was at the highest level in 26 years. US Consumer prices were unchanged in October to be 1.7% higher than a year ago. The tame result was driven by a slide in energy prices (-1.9%) and gasoline prices (-3%) in October. Excluding food and energy prices were up 0.2% to be up 1.8% on a year ago.

Australian shares extended their losses this afternoon with hefty losses from the miners a major drag. The ASX 200 Index slumped by 1 per cent to 5316.2 and makes it the worst week since early December 2013 for local shares. Equities have fallen for four straight days and are trading at fresh one-month lows.

New York residents have been warned to brace for more snow this weekend.