Daytrading May 8 afternoon

Thanks Scarface and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

A regional rally and a strong profit result from Macquarie Bank  helped the Australian share market rally for the first time in four sessions.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 37 points or 0.7% ahead at 5683 as financials and property trusts rebounded from their lowest levels since late January. The financials sector rallied 1% with MQG leading the way with a rise of 5% after the bank increased its full-year profit by 27%. Property trusts bounced 2%, telecoms 1.2% and industrials 1.1%. Resource stocks capped index gains with the energy sector falling 1.9%, metals & mining 0.6% and materials 0.1%.

The dollar declined around a third of a cent to 78.88 US cents after the Reserve Bank left the door open to further rate cuts but cut its economic growth outlook and Chinese trade data marked slowdowns in both imports and exports. The RBA chopped its forecast for the next financial year by 50 basis points to growth of 2-3%.

"The board will continue to assess the outlook and adjust policy as needed to foster sustainable growth in demand," the bank's quarterly monetary policy statement noted. "Growth in the Australian economy is expected to continue at a below-average pace for a little longer than earlier anticipated."

Chinese exports declined 6.2% last month from a year earlier and imports 16.1%. Both figures were worse than expected.

Asian markets followed a positive overnight lead from Wall Street. China's Shanghai Composite gained 1.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.83% and Japan's Nikkei 0.31%. Dow futures were recently up 13 points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures slipped another eight cents this morning to US$58.89 a barrel. Spot gold improved $1 to US$1,183.20 an ounce.


While it's nice to see some green, there was not a lot of excitement around this morning. Market is probably a bit shell-shocked. I managed one good trade in SGH and then a lot of 'nearlys' that didn't quite turn into trades. Easier to make money when the herd is stampeding in one direction or the other. No one wants too much exposure with the US jobs report tonight, although in fairness they have tended to be non-events lately, with all the positioning done in the lead-up.