daytrades dec 7 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares bucked a weak overnight lead from Wall Street and softer regional markets ahead of this afternoon's cash rate announcement.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 17 points or 0.4% at 4705, led by resource sectors. Gold stocks rallied 1.4% following the metal's record high overnight, metals & mining was up 0.8% and materials +0.7%.

The dollar eased following news that construction work continued to contract last month. AIG-HIA Performance of Construction Index dropped 1.8 points to 42.2 in November, well below the 50-point mark that separates contraction from expansion. The dollar was recently buying 98.82 U.S. cents.

"The continuing weakness in the construction industry reinforces other reports about the patchiness of economic activity in the face of higher interest rates and the withdrawal of government stimulus measures," AIG Director of Public Policy Peter Burn told Fairfax.

Asian markets retreated. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.65%, Shanghai 1.47% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.26%. Dow futures were recently at -14.

Spot gold pulled back from this morning's record high, retreating $8 to $1,418 an ounce. Crude oil futures dropped 26 cents to $88.86 a barrel.


A rare show of independence by our market this morning, but it has faded a little since Shanghai opened in the red. Been a better morning for this trader following yesterday's wasted session ($57 is not much for a day's work - what's minimum wage again? lol). I caught the bounce in MYR and got on board CTP for this morning's recovery. The volume in HST these last few days suggests the selling is nearing a climax, so I opened a half-position. Tight stop. Also got some API but a little early.