Mid-year swoon

ANALYSTS at Deutsche Bank have chopped 5% off their end-of-year forecast for the ASX 200.

The bank is cautious on mining stocks amid fears a strong local dollar and weakening commodity prices will combine to hurt earnings.

The bank said it was “taking some risk off the table” in response to what it saw as a coming “mid-year swoon”.

But it says it “is not moving outright defensive” as it “continues to expect a stronger earnings environment to emerge later in the year”. – SMH