Daytrading September 1 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

An Asia-wide sell-off resumed this morning as US equity futures signalled alarm after a measure of Chinese factory output slumped to a three-year low.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was trading 67 points or 1.3% weaker at 5140 and on course for a second straight loss. The financials sector was the biggest drag for a second day, lately down 1.5%. Also notably weak were utilities -2.1%, telecoms -1.6% and the Small Ords -1.5%.

Asian markets extended yesterday's losses after the official government manufacturing PMI contracted for the first time since February, declining to 49.7 last month from a July reading of 50. The non-manufacturing PMI dipped to 53.4 from 53.9. A rival private manufacturing gauge from Caixin ticked up to 47.3 from an initial reading of 47.2.

China's Shanghai Composite was lately down 2.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.38% and Japan's Nikkei 2.4%. Dow futures were off 254 points or 1.5%.

“Investors are concerned about the strength of the global economy, which is why you’re seeing a sell-off in various stock markets,” Ayako Sera, strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Japan, told Bloomberg.

Back home, the outlook for tomorrow's second-quarter GDP dimmed after the current account deficit blew out to $19 billion during the three months to June. Analysts expect the rise from $14.4 billion the previous quarter to knock about 0.6% off GDP.

Crude oil futures retreated $1.49 this morning to US$47.71 a barrel. Spot gold jumped $8 to US$1,140.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.17 US cents.


Another risk-off session - big rally in gold, big pullback in oil. The Chinese data was close to expectations, but the market was looking for reasons to sell after last week's rebound. We may have to test support before there is any chance of moving higher. Shanghai fell more than 4% in early trade. US futures are a worry. Trading: very mixed morning here. TPI, one of my favourite intraday swingers offered a nice swing pay-out in the end but gave me severe heart palpitations first. Took a small hit on IFM from yesterday when it broke support. Also took punts in KKL at 1.2c, RFT at 0.5c, OZL at $3.46 and CVO at $2.35. Jury still out.