Daytrading April 18 afternoon

Thanks Jim, Brit and thread stalwarts.


Half-time round-up:

A commodities-led sell-off pushed Australian shares lower for the first time in five sessions as the failure of oil production-freeze talks weighed on crude, Asian markets and US equity futures.
  
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 12 points or 0.2% weaker at 5145 but well off the morning low of 5118 as gains in defensive sectors partly offset falls in resource stocks. The gold sector rallied 1.8%, telecoms 1.6% and health 1% in a traditional 'flight to safety' after the failure of the world's major oil-producing countries to agree to production cuts in a much-anticipated meeting in Doha.

“There was an expectation baked into prices that you’d see a production freeze, and with no resolution, it adds to negative drivers for the oil price, commodities and commodity currencies,” Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners, told Bloomberg. “We will probably see equity markets go off the boil as some of that recent strength in the materials and energy stocks unwinds. The [US] reporting season remains in focus this week.”

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were last off $1.98 or 4.9% at US$38.38, exacerbating Friday's $1.10 or 2.65% drop ahead of the meeting. ASX energy stocks were last down 3%. Also weak were metals & mining -1.3%, materials -0.9% and financials -0.7%. The dollar slumped half a cent or 0.7% to 76.68 US cents.

Dow futures were off 94 points or 0.53%. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.75%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.27% and Japan's Nikkei 3.05%.

Gold futures firmed $2.10 or 0.17% to US$1,236.80 an ounce.


Hardly Armageddon in oil markets considering  the price ran up 35% in the lead-up to Doha. More of a mild shrug of disappointment. Energy stocks were off 4.5% in the first hour, so there was an opportunity to buy the dip. I traded SEA and AUZ for a solid wage.