MARKETS

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 1 point while the S&P gained two points to 1762 and the Nasdaq lost one point.

By Greg PeelProperty has become the investment buzzword for 2013. Stock markets continue to rally on central bank stimulus yet the bulk of investors remain on the sidelines, still fearful of the volatility that has been a feature since the GFC.

Local participants showed few signs of doubt on Monday ahead of a busy week for market moving events. The ASX 200 has risen more than 4% this month, notwithstanding that result buyers continued to keep the upper hand over most on the session.

The gains are continuing, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up by 60pts or 1.1 per cent at lunch. With nine of the past ten sessions being up days, this makes it the second best winning streak for local shares of 2013. The gains are partly being fuelled by greater political certainty in the US (for now), Chinese manufacturing figures out last week and a better finish to the week for US equities on Friday.

Areva, the French nuclear energy giant, inked an agreement with Mon-Atom, a state-owned company in Mongolia, to develop to uranium mines in the Gobi desert.

As we head into the last four trading days of October there are a few statistics that are starting to make me see a crest at the top of the hill for the ASX.

Over 40 major donor organisations, including government and private agencies, received "Poor" or "Very Poor" scores in the latest Aid Transparency Index (ATI), bringing into question how and where foreign aid money is being spent, contrary to prior pledges towards more openness.

In US economic news, orders for durable goods (goods with a life more than three years) rose by 3.7pct in September, ahead of expectations. But non-defence goods excluding planes fell by 1.1pct. Consumer sentiment fell from 77.5 to a 10-month low of 73.2 in October, below expectations for a result near 75.0. And wholesale inventories rose by 0.5pct in September with sales up 0.6pct - both above expectations.

By Ashley JessenASX Top Gainers & Losers plus Market Snapshot - 28 October 2013Strong leads across US and European markets provided the necessary inspiration for our local market to close at their highest level since June 2008 with several of our banks closing at all time record highs and match that...

- Wesfarmers sales growth reasonable on a net basis- Yield is attractive- Coles appears to be slowing- Analysts question a high PEBy Greg PeelWesfarmers ((WES)) reported its quarterly retail and coal sales last week and the story was mixed.

The weekly uptrend has ended and a new downtrend has started with a close below 5424.The market is at the upper end of the short term range and the RSI is at elevated levels.

Local stocks went against the regional trend today which saw most of the leading indices lose ground. The improvement on Friday has meant that over the last 5 days the index has gained about 1.2%.

There have been a number of encouraging signs for the bulls in the last 24 hours. The weak close on Wednesday as rising interest rates in China saw buyers retreat from stocks across the region has faded from memory and buyers have maintained the grind higher for the ASX200 this week, which has risen by 1.3% with several hours of trade remaining.

It has been a very interesting week on the markets; the unusual event of seeing major US data in the third week of the month certainly didn't spook the markets as it reconfirmed what most already believe; taper will not happen in 2013.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 95 points or 0.6% while the S&P gained 0.3% to 1752 and the Nasdaq added 0.5%.

The US trade deficit came in at $38.8 billion in August, roughly in line with that recorded in July. The underlying trend remains of very gradual narrowing of the deficit. Initial jobless claims dipped further down by 12,000 to 350,000 last week. Flash US manufacturing fell from 52.8 to 51.1 in October. Output declined for the first time in four years, with the subindex dipping to 49.5.

The Australian sharemarket benefited from a better than expected reading on Chinese manufacturing sector activity, only to give back part of the gains late in the session. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished 0.3 per cent or 16.9pts higher.

The Australian sharemarket is trading around a five-year high, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up by 0.3 per cent. This is quite a positive outcome considering that global markets lost ground overnight as short-term Chinese interest rates rose. This following the Chinese central bank's (PBoC) decision to remove some excess liquidity from financial markets.

The New Zealand government approved a NZ$3.2 billion initial public offering (IPO) of power generator Meridian Energy. It is the largest IPO in New Zealand's history.

The long rally in US equities finally came to a halt, with disappointing earnings being pinned as the main reason behind the fall. However, US earnings have been largely ignored as the US market rallied and I feel some of the disappointing earnings were just an excuse for the sell-off. After four consecutive sessions of printing record highs, the S&P finally gave up ground and declined half a per cent. The main result the market concentrated on was a disappointing Q3 report from Caterpillar (CAT...

The Bank of Canada monetary policy decision resulted in no change to the overnight lending rate which remained at 1.0pct. This was as expected. However, the BoC dropped its previous bias to lift the policy rate. This bias has been in place for a year. In other words the BoC has now moved to outright neutral. Inflation is now expected to remain low for longer, the level of economic activity is also lower than expected, while risks of further weakness in the economy are taking on increasing import...

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 54 points or 0.4% while the S&P lost 0.5% to 1746 and the Nasdaq fell 0.

By Jonathan BarrattDashed hopes of tapering for the time being and even further stimulus efforts have spurred a more positive outlook for gold.

Three events over the past 24 hours have influenced markets and currencies. Firstly, last night a report showed there were fewer jobs created in the US over Sept than many had hoped. This reduced the likelihood of an imminent tapering in the Fed's current stimulus strategy and also pushed markets and the Aussie dollar higher. Secondly, this morning, the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that prices rose by a more than expected 1.2 per cent over the September quarter; all but wiping out...

Diamond industry giant De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds entered into a joint venture to develop the Gaheho Kue diamond mine in Northwest Territories.

The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is rising for the seventh straight day; up 0.2 per cent and sitting at around a five year high. This makes it the longest winning streak in nine months and comes courtesy of some worse than expected US jobs numbers overnight.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportFor all my subscribers who are getting worried about the soundness of Australian banks, well, I make one recommendation, and I do this with a heavy heart ? stop reading the Australian Financial Review!Don't get me wrong, I read this respected newspaper but ...

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 75 points or 0.5% while the S&P gained 0.6% to 1754 despite the Nasdaq only rising 0.

Tuesday afternoon trade for the ASX200 was marked by new highs being made in successive hours. The exception being the final hour of trade, when sellers gained some traction following comments from the Federal Treasurer. Mr Hockey spoke of the outlook for the 2013-14 Federal Budget deteriorating. The impact was modest and not enduring. The Aussie dollar dipped and recovered not long after the comments, although it had been in a downtrend all day. December 10-year bond futures were trading at 95....