daytrades march 1 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Local shares kicked higher this morning as investors digested a blizzard of economic news.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 31 points or 0.7% at 4669 as a broad rally carried all but one sector higher. Consumer staples led the advancers, up 1.8%, ahead of health +1.7% and gold +1.6%. Telecoms were the only drag on the market, down 0.2%.

Wednesday's GDP figure may be weaker than expected after a blow-out in the current account deficit. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said an increase of $7.75 billion in the deficit on goods and services would suck 1.3 percentage points from growth in December quarter GDP.

Inflation slowed last month, easing pressure on the Reserve Bank to clamp down with a string of interest rates rises this year. The TD Securities-Melbourne Institute inflation gauge rose just 0.1% in February after two monthly rises of 0.8% in January and December.

However, TD Securities senior strategist Annette Beacher said the RBA could still safely raise rates tomorrow. "As the unemployment rate continues to shrink and spare capacity is all but absorbed, the RBA Board tomorrow can comfortably recommend another 25 basis point rate rise to 4 per cent," Ms Beacher told Fairfax.

Manufacturing expanded as a rise in new orders flowed through to stronger production. The AIG/PWC performance of manufacturing index rose a seasonally adjusted 2.8 points in January to 53.8. Readings above 50 indicate expanding activity.

New home sales surged the most in five months in January. Nationwide sales bounced 9.5% after falling 4.6% in December, according to Housing Industry Association data.

Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens told a forum that Australia had emerged stronger from the global financial crisis but faced challenges as Europe, the US and Japan struggle to find sustainable paths to growth.

The first of two measures of Chinese manufacturing growth due today showed a slowdown. The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing's purchasing managers' index unexpectedly eased to 52 last month from 55.8 the previous month. The PMI reading was lower than the 55.45 forecast by economists.

Asian markets advanced this morning. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.52%, Shanghai 0.13% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.2%. Dow futures faded a little after a very bullish morning but were recently at a healthy +29.

Crude oil futures surged 0.75% this morning to $80.26 a barrel. The spot gold price was $2.20 softer at $1,115.70 an ounce.


A bullish start to the week but I was too cautious at the open to take advantage. Missed some nice trades in UNS, FXJ and BBG among others. Flat morning for me. Used the bounce to close out two trades from last week - CAB at a small loss and AWE at a small profit.