daytrading march 19 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Broad gains in cyclical sectors steered Australian shares to their highest level in nearly three weeks as US futures and most Asian markets rallied this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 22 points or 0.5% at 4299, led by gain in metals & mining +1.1%, materials 1%, financials +0.7% and industrials +0.6% as Australia closed the gap on Friday's Shanghai rally. The only sectors to lose ground were defensive - consumer staples -0.7%, telecoms -0.7%, gold -0.6% and utilities -0.3%.

"Although we had a reasonable sort of week [last week], [Chinese shares were] a lot better than we were, so there is probably an element of catch-up at the moment," Patersons Securities associate director Mark Goulopoulos told Fairfax. "We are getting a good bid back in the metals stocks today."

US futures rallied ahead of tonight's trade. Dow futures were recently up 32 points or more than 0.2%. Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei put on 0.22% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.19% but Shanghai dropped 0.4%

Crude oil futures rallied 21 cents this morning to US$107.37 a barrel. Spot gold was 20 cents ahead at US$1,663.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0594.


A bullish start to the week, with US futures looking promising, most of Asia rising and oil and gold inching ahead. Pity about Shanghai. Been a frustrating morning at this trading desk, with every buy order met with part-fills so piddling that it will take 20% rallies just to recover brokerage. I currently own incredibly small stakes in NWE and BTR.