A predictable close to the week as book squaring and lack of bank bashing ensured a small rally. Tentative start though and low volumes but bargain hunters in the banks pushed us up to close 14 points to the good. For the week up 8 points having finishes at 5318 up 20 today. And all that volatility. Big numbers out from the US tonight and Euro trash markets will have had time to digest Super Mario’s five point cunning plan to save the planet, so expect some more volatility. News from Canberra that our finest will be in action over Iraqi skies was not a factor today. The big turnaround story is the banks which seem to have found a base with a couple of higher profile people than me extolling their virtues.1% gains for the big four with insurers also chipping in as QBE Insurance Group Limited (A$11.77, +1.5%),Insurance Australia Group Limited (A$6.17, +1.6%) and Suncorp Group Limited (A$14.20, +0.9%) keeping their end up.

In industrials Telstra Corporation Limited (A$5.39, +0.7%) soared out of the blocks(yield again)as did the W’s Woodside Petroleum Limited (A$40.68, +0.5%),Wesfarmers Limited (A$42.39, +0.7%),Woolworths Limited (A$34.45, +0.6%). Gamblers were easier as Aristocrat Leisure Limited (A$5.90, -0.8%),Crown Resorts Limited (A$13.62, -1.7%),TABCORP Holdings Limited (A$3.62, -0.8%) and Echo Entertainment Group Limited (A$3.34, -1.2%) all rolled snake eyes.retailers continue to be plagued with poor consumer spending as Premier Investments Limited (A$10.00, -1.6%),Myer Holdings Limited (A$1.90, -1.8%),Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (A$3.59, -1.9%) and Breville Group Limited (A$7.12, -1.2%) all lost ground.

In resource land, despite the solid iron ore price the leaders failed to launch with BHP Billiton Limited (A$33.45, -0.6%),RIO Tinto Limited (A$58.80, -0.2%),Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$3.45, -2.8%),Bluescope Steel Limited (A$5.31, -2.4%) and Alumina Limited (A$1.635, -1.2%) all suffering. The one bright spot in this sea of red was Newcrest Mining Limited (A$10.31, +0.9%) and under pressure Arrium Limited (A$0.355, -1.4%).

Winners today included Peet Limited (A$1.21, +0.8%),Syrah Resources Limited (A$4.02, +5.8%),Bradken Limited (A$3.97, +2.3%),SVW#,REA Group Ltd (A$42.60, +1.7%) and Carsales.Com Limited (A$9.88, +2.4%) together with #PSY#,#ESV# and Patties Foods Ltd (A$1.32, +6.5%) in the smalls. Losers included Ten Network Holdings Limited (A$0.22, -6.4%) (no surprise here), Mount Gibson Iron Limited (A$0.485, -6.7%),Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (A$3.53, -5.6%),Sandfire Resources NL (A$5.48, -3.4%),Oz Minerals Limited (A$3.76, -3.3%) and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$3.45, -2.8%) together with small caps #TZN#,Atlas Iron Limited (A$0.375, -5.1%),Acrux Limited (A$1.435, -6.2%) and Lynas Corporation Limited (A$0.079, -4.8%). Volume was woeful at around $3bn with the Aussie dollar at 87.90,bitcons at $427 and gold at $1211.

Meanwhile in Asia, Tokyo slipped slightly down 0.2% whilst Hong Kong continues to be beholden to the protests and down 0.7%.

Stocks and Stories
Titan Energy Services Limited continued its plunge following yesterday’s profit warning. Groping for a bottom but none to be found as yet.

Bradken Limited (A$3.97, +2.3%) had an ASX query today after a massive range of $4.05 to $3.59!Computers at it again as the company knew of no reason for the huge fall.

Housing figures today showed the strength of the apartments market with sales rising 20% Across the board Sales picked up 3.3 per cent in August, following a decline in July, according to figures from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) on Friday. The figures followed Thursday’s strong building approvals numbers which showed that approvals for the construction of new homes reached a record 198,000 for the year to August.

China’s services sector grew at its slowest pace in eight months in September after new orders shrank for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The biggest news today was not our brave armed forces going into harms way in Iraq but the upshot of “The Batchelor”. Were they engaged, who chucked who and who is pregnant?Really? All the hype didn’t help Ten Network Holdings Limited (A$0.22, -6.4%). Nor should it.

Tomorrow’s News Today
This could be contagious if it gets the nod. The Bank of England wants powers to intervene in the mortgage market which would allow policymakers to limit the value of loans to homeowners and prevent a housing bubble disrupting the financial system.

Student protesters and the ‘man’ have agreed to sit down over a nice cup of tea and discuss their differences. Promising.

Oh the irony, but America has eased restrictions on arms sales to Vietnam. Not likely to impress Beijing though especially given the tricky times in HK at the moment.

Good to see the UK PM Cameron touch down in Kabul to chew the fat with the new PM. According to Cameron “When you compare Afghanistan in 2001 with Afghanistan today, the country has been transformed.” You reckon.

Monday is a public holiday in NSW so that will keep a few punters out of the market.

Big US Non-Farm Payrolls number tonight.215,000 is the expectation. And although the US has created 10m jobs in the last 4 ½ years there are still 3.9 million prime age jobs short of what was normal before the recession.

Ukraine admits its GDP will fall 8% this year. IMF talks about the new mediocre! Think all of Europe qualifies on that one.

UK slick loan shark Wonga is writing off GBP220m in bad debts on loans to people who could not afford their interest rates. That’s why they borrowed money in the first place. They didn’t have any of their own!

No rocket to the moon for this little puppy as hotly anticipated Eurotech superstar float Rocket listed in Frankfurt at the top end of the range and promptly lost 12%!They raised 1.4bn Euros! Market Value of 6.5bn Euros! One of the worse $500m plus listings debuts for five years and it was 10 times oversubscribed! Go figure.

That is all

Clarence

Xxxx