daytrade diaries... january 4 part 2

The Australian market made surprise gains in morning trade, with rises in mining and energy companies helping boost the bourse.

All Ordinaries index had risen 9 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 4,891 points.

Analyst said "What we are finding is that the beginning of the new calendar year brings about some added activity, and some manufacturing data out of China that came out over the weekend was a positive for our market,"

Some said however that the market could be buffeted by profit warnings ahead of the February earnings reporting season for Australian companies, especially companies hit by the sharp rise in the Aussie dollar in the half year just ended.

"The market may benefit in the first couple weeks of the new year from asset allocation moves towards equities. That might be enough to push the market higher in the near term,"
Industrial services provider WorleyParsons(WOR) has agreed to acquire CNEC Engenharia (CNEC), a stand-alone engineering and project management unit, from Brazilian conglomerate Camargo Correa for BRL170 million ($A108.4 million).

Oil company Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL) says an agreement with PetroChina Company for the potential sale of 2 to 3 million tonnes a year of LNG from the Browse LNG Development expired on December 31. Woodside says it remains in ongoing discussions with other Asia-Pacific LNG customers in relation to potential sales from its portfolio of Australian LNG developments, including the Browse project. The company says it has also entered into an agreement with Osaka Gas to progress discussions in respect of Woodside projects, including the potential sale and purchase of up to 1.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum from the Browse LNG Development. Woodside Petroleum shares gained 0.4 per cent to $47.39.

Origin Energy Ltd (ORG) has today confirmed a new field oil and gas discovery at Rockhopper in the Bass Basin. Origin, who is operator of the T/18P joint venture, says wireline pressure data recorded in the Rockhopper well to date confirm the presence of hydrocarbon columns and says that selective wireline sampling has recovered oil from sands and liquids rich gas from others. Origin says that it remains too early to comment on the commercial significance of this new field discovery, but the joint venture is encouraged by the results so far, particularly by the recovery of crude oil from some sands. Origin Energy shares added 0.83 per cent to $16.96.

The best performing sector at midday is the Consumer Staples index up 88 points at 7,897.

The worst performing sector at midday is the Real Estate Investment Trust index, down 5 to 893.

Gold is trading at US$1,095.15 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 89.65 US cents.

VIL:We might see .036c
BUY:Q @.092c
MOG: Picked up .19c

http://www.marketwatch.com/
http://www.thebull.com.au/
http://www.news.com.au/business/

Trend is important.

Ask yourself - what is the direction of least resistance? There are a number of ways to determine this and its ultimately up to the individual trader. When buying into pullbacks, its important to ensure the longer term trend is still up. To determine this some ideas include; is the 200 Day moving average today higher than it was 50 trading days ago? Is the 50 day moving average above or below the 200 day moving average?