ASX200 ends +0.5%; South32 +4.9%

The ASX200 rose 0.5% as US index futures gains added to positive leads from Wall Street. The IT and Materials sectors led gains with Afterpay up 4.5% and South32 up 4.9%.

Mixed ASX trading ahead. Picture: Christian Gilles

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Thursday, October 14. Australian stocks are 1 per cent stronger in afternoon trade. The jobless rate rose to 4.6 per cent. 

At 2pm AEDT, ASX 200 is  trading 1 per cent higher at 7347.30.

The Dow Jones index closed broadly flat. But the S&P 500 index rose by 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq index added 0.7 per cent.

Overnight, Federal Reserve minutes indicted officials are leaning towards cutting back on the bond purchases as soon as after their next meeting scheduled for November and end it by mid-2022.

The pullback is likely to go ahead despite US Labor Department data showing inflation remained at a high 5.4 per cent in September compared to the same month last year.

Iron ore was down US$4.90 or 3.8 per cent to $US123.60 per tonne, while the price of WTI fell 0.2 per cent to $US80.44 a barrel.