daytrading oct 21 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market surfed a likely delay in central bank tightening to a new five-year high and a fifth straight rise this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 37 points or 0.7% ahead at 5358, territory last seen in June 2008. Resource and consumer stocks led the advance, while health -0.2% was the only sector left behind. The Small Ordinaries put on 0.9% to reach its strongest level since May.

The gains came after US Federal Reserve officials signalled a likely delay in the long-anticipated stimulus "taper" following the government shutdown and debt ceiling stand-off. A pick-up in Chinese GDP reported at the end of last week also helped investor sentiment.

"The market will continue to rally based on improving economic fundamentals and a potential delay in tapering of the Federal Reserve's stimulus," Angus Gluskie, managing director of White Funds Management, told Bloomberg. "While the US government still needs to do more work on the debt issue and their budget, we're going into 2014 with the likelihood of synchronised recovery in Europe, Asia and the US."

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.04% in early trade, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.58% and Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.75%. Dow futures were recently up 17 points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures improved eight cents this morning to US$100.94 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.20 weaker at US$1,316.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 96.58 US cents.



Heady times. Some of the gains over the last month have been mind-blowing. Well done to those who have taken full advantage. Sentiment is everything, but be very wary if you find yourself starting to believe the stories. It's not different this time and never has been. I stuck to my knitting, trading lows in QAN and GUF. Off-topic: probably worth mentioning that I live in one of the NSW communities that may come under threat from bushfire this week. So if I fail to post one morning/afternoon, I'm defending or running like Marjorie Jackson. Hopefully there will be time to post a message here but obviously can't guarantee. No direct thereat yet. Thoughts are with those already affected.