The ASX 200 eked out a 0.4% gain on Wednesday, despite fewer than half of the stocks on the main board finishing higher. As we keep saying, the index is awfully comfortable trading around 8800. In a well-timed performance for today’s report, the miners led the market’s advance, with BHP Group (BHP) effectively delivering the index’s entire gain, but a lack of broad-based buying reined in the market’s gain. However, it was a disappointing performance overall, with the local market failing to embrace the soft US CPI (inflation print) or strong start to earnings season.