daytrades august 27 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares pared early losses this morning as regional markets fluctuated in jittery trade ahead of a big night in the U.S.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 10 points or 0.2% weaker at 4345 but above the morning low of 4330. A mixed morning for the local market saw most of the losses coming in the mining and financial sectors, while defensive sectors found buyers ahead of tonight's US GDP data and a much-anticipated speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

The morning's major earnings reports were mostly well-received, with gains coming for FXJ, SGM and SLM. Shares in Fairfax were recently up 3.5% after the company reported a $282 million net profit.

Asian markets followed Wall Street loweer. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.87% in morning trade despite a fall in unemployment, Shanghai was down 0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 0.12%. Dow futures were recently at -11.

Crude oil futures were 4 cents weaker this morning at $73.03 a barrel. The spot gold price was $1 lower at $1,235.70 an ounce. The Aussie dollar was buying 88.6 U.S. cents.


This morning was one long exercise in damage control for this trader. One of those days when I consider finding something less stressful to do - open-heart surgery or lion taming or dating Matthew Newton. Got into ADX and TEN too early and watched two weeks of day-trading profits disappear on paper before a painstaking recovery. Eventually scraped out of ADX with a profit but it won't cover the medical bills for my new stomach ulcer. Doubled up on TEN - sold half at break-even, probably should have dumped the lot. Caught some of the bounce in CUS. Been a long week.