daytrading august 5 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market is on track to break a 10-session winning run after weak retail sales, a NSW bank holiday and the prospect of a Federal election stifled risk appetite this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 15 points or 0.3% weaker at 5101 despite fresh record highs on Wall Street on Friday and positive Chinese economic data over the weekend. Gold stocks +1.6% and materials +0.1% were among the few sectors to advance. Financials slipped 0.4% and industrials lost 0.1%.

The consumer discretionary sector shrugged off flat June retail sales to rally 0.6%. Economists had been expecting growth of around 0.4%. The news helped push the dollar to a new three-year low on heightened expectations for a cut to the cash rate tomorrow. The Aussie was recently buying 88.69 US cents.

"There's no indication in the monthly data that there's any sign of immediate improvement for retail trade as a whole," NAB's head of Australian economics, Rob Brooker, told Fairfax. "Retailing is broadly weak - both of value and of volume, and it suggests that margins are continuing to be under pressure."

Asian markets were mixed. Shanghai inched up 0.04%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.14% and Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.98%. Dow futures were recently off 11 points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures rallied 11 cents this morning to US$106.99 a barrel. Spot gold strengthened $1.80 to US$1,315.30 an ounce.



Slow day on the planet. Glad I have a two-year-old to butt me in the stomach now and then to jolt me awake. Otherwise I might have dozed through this dreary session. Plenty of declines around but not much bounce. Picked SSN and GMR for possible recoveries but they're sulking near the foot of their intraday trading ranges. Wake me up for the close.