daytrading jan 12 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

A profit downgrade from QBE sent the Australian share market lower this morning after Chinese inflation came in roughly in line with expectations.

At 1pm the ASX 200 was down 14 points or 0.3% at 4173 after spending most of the morning locked in an unusually narrow 12-point range. Insurers fell after QBE warned that profits would be lower than expected due in part to "the record level of catastrophe claims experienced by the insurance industry". Shares in QBE were recently off 22%.

China's consumer inflation and producer prices came in fractionally higher than expected, but not by enough to move the market. Consumer inflation eased from a 4.2% year-on-year gain in November to 4.1% last month and the producer price index dropped from 2.7% to 1.7%. Both figures were within 0.1% of the consensus forecasts.

This morning's action followed a quiet session in the US, where the major indexes finished little changed ahead of tonight's Spanish bond auction despite news that Germany's economy is sliding towards recession.

"The market has largely digested the possibility of a recession in Europe," Will Seddon of White Funds Management in Sydney told Bloomberg. "The rally can continue provided things don't deteriorate further in Europe. US data has been improving and buying into exporters leveraged to that economy is not a bad way to position for the rally."

Asian markets mostly retreated. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.65% and Shanghai lost 0.23% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.04%. Dow futures were recently off six points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures regained 14 cents this morning at US$101.25 a barrel. Spot gold was 60 cents stronger at US$1,643 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0298.


I don't have stats but the first two and a half hours of this morning's trading range would be about the tightest I can recall. That underlines the drop in volatility since the turn of the year. It's a good thing for the long-term health of the market, but doesn't do traders any favours. Nonetheless, I had one of my better mornings after the early retrace in DOW provided a nice cheap entry. Also flat in PRY, added at support, and down on NTU.