daytrading aug 30 afternoon

Thanks Roaminoz. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares surfed improving global economic optimism to a two-week high this morning but underperformed key regional markets.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 25 points or 0.6% at 4289, led by the big banks and miners. Financials was the pick of the sectors, up 1.4%, followed by industrials +0.9% and materials +0.8%. Gold, health and utilities were among a handful of defensive sectors to lose ground.

"There is a tentative air of optimism about the place, while it lasts," Austock group senior client adviser Michael Heffernan told Fairfax. "There has been relatively more stability in the past couple of weeks, and the Greek banks merging and US spending picking up has helped."

Asian markets embraced sharp overnight moves in Europe and the US. Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.53%, Shanghai 1.36% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 2.25%. Dow futures were recently ahead 12 points or 0.1%.

The domestic building industry remained in the doldrums, with July building approvals improving less than expected last month. July approvals rose a seasonally-adjusted 1%, against the consensus forecast for a 2% rise.

"In the first six months of the year, approvals were down around 20 per cent, so there is definitely still a lot of weakness on the building approvals front,"JP Morgan economist Helen Kevans told Fairfax. "Given the rise in consumer caution and the threat that the next RBA move will be up, we probably think that building approvals will remain pretty subdued throughout the rest of the year."

Crude oil futures were little changed, rising 2 cents to US$87.54 a barrel. Spot gold was $5.10 stronger at US$1,795.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0674.


A solid morning but the ASX 200 seems to have stalled at the Aug 17 high-point for the last three weeks. No irrational exuberance here. I picked ARG and JBH as possible reversal candidates but settled for peanuts when the sellers held their ground. Fortunately the volatility in VRX provided a couple of quick scalps on dips for a day's wage.