daytrades march 10 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Local shares fell back this morning for the first session in nine after a surprise slump in home loans.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 5 points or 0.1% at 4814 as losses among property trusts (-1.6%) and miners (-0.6%) outweighed gains for IT +2.1%, telecoms +1.9% and financials, +0.4%.

Weighing on the property sector was news that the number of home loans issued in January plunged 7.9% - the biggest fall since 2000 and well below economists' expectations for a rise of 2%. It was the fourth straight fall in home loans as the phasing out of the First Home Buyers grant and rising interest rates erode demand.

In other economic news, consumer confidence brushed off the latest interest rate rise, according to figures released this morning. The Westpac-MI consumer sentiment index rose 0.2% this month.

"While consumers are shrugging off interest rate hikes, rising borrowing costs are clearly hurting the housing market," Moody's Analytics economist Matthew Circosta told Fairfax. "This marks the fourth consecutive decline in housing finance since the Reserve Bank of Australia commenced tightening monetary policy."

In company news, shares in Alesco slumped 30% after downgrading its full-year forecast. Mmining minnow Aurox Resources jumped 150% after striking a merger deal with Atlas Iron.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.08%, Shanghai rose 0.4% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.4%. Dow futures were recently at -5.

Crude oil futures dipped 27 cents or 0.33% to $81.22 a barrel. The spot gold price was recently tracking sideways at $1,121.70 an ounce.


A solid morning here after bounce trades in ALS, NUF and more recently BBG. Trade of the morning would have been NTC bought at 15.5 but for one detail - my order was partially filled to a grand total of 326 shares before other buyers steamed in over the top. So I caught a 15% bounce and still lost money. Cruel! Also holding APN from the low in case it rallies in the afternoon for a third day.