daytrading dec 5 afternoon

Thanks Suzie. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares this morning pushed towards their longest winning run since April as austerity action in Italy helped US futures and Japanese shares advance.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 24 points or 0.6% at 4312, on track for its sixth day of gains after hitting its highest level in more than three weeks. Cyclical sectors including materials, financials and energy accounted for most of the gains. The only sector underwater was the defensive gold, off 1%.

US futures pointed to a positive start to the trading week after Italy announced a three-year austerity plan over the weekend to slash the euro-zone's second largest debt mountain. Dow futures were recently up 63 points or 0.5% as expectations increased for this week's meeting of European leaders.

"Everything points in the direction of something big coming out of this week's meeting," Khoon Goh, head of market economics and strategy at ANZ in Wellington told Bloomberg. "In the early part of this week we will continue to see risk appetite improve."

Asian markets were mixed, with Japan ahead but Shanghai and Hong Kong higher recently rolling over. Japan's Nikkei put on 0.38%, Shanghai lost 1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.12%.

Expectations for Wednesday's quarterly Australian GDP report were reined in following a decline in business inventories over the September quarter. Company operating profits increased 4.8% during the quarter, but inventories declined 1.1%.

"That points to some downside risk to the GDP growth forecasts out on Wednesday," Macquarie Group senior economist Brian Redican told Fairfax. "Profits were fairly much in line with expectations... So in terms of what it means for policy makers and the perception of how the economy is looking in the September quarter, I don't think there will be too many surprises there, but it's the impact of having a big rundown of inventories in Q3 might prompt some people to trim their growth forecasts."

Other reports showed job ads holding steady from last month and consumer prices moderating. The TDS-MI inflation gauge fell 0.1%.

Crude oil futures rallied eight cents this morning to US$101.20 a barrel. Spot gold was $4.20 softer at US$1,744.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.023.


Upwards and onwards. Two weeks of weakness eradicated and the resistance at around 4350 on the XJO is starting to come into play. Despite all that, I found few pickings this morning with most shares trading well above the support levels where I prefer to shop. Sold some ILU, the last of the rebound trades acquired during last month's downhill run. Added a few ARW at support.