Daytrading June 13 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Shares are on track for their lowest close in two months as turmoil in Iraq drove investors out of risk assets and into gold stocks and oil producers.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 38 points or 0.7% lower at 5390 after earlier falling as low as 5373. A close around these levels would be weakest since mid-April. Gold +2.8% and energy +1% were the only sectors to resist a third day of falls that included losses of 1.4% for materials stocks, 1.2% for industrials and 0.6% for financials.

The declines followed Wall Street's worst session in three weeks as Iraq lurched nearer to civil war. The escalating crisis drove oil to a nine-month peak and sparked a 'flight to safety' that benefitted traditional havens such as gold. Crude oil futures continued to rally this morning, gaining another 40 cents at US$107.26 a barrel.

“The Iraq situation has the potential to become more significant, so people are naturally concerned,” Angus Gluskie, fund manager at White Funds Management, told Bloomberg. However, "The underlying factors that have driven the market higher haven’t really changed. They’re still reasonably strong.”

Asian markets showed little evidence of stress. China's Shanghai Composite rallied 0.35%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.18% and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.64%. Dow futures were recently down 14 points or less than 0.1%.

Spot gold was $1.10 weaker at US$1,272.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 94.13 US cents.


Asia seems to be shrugging at the selling elsewhere, which is likely one reason why the XJO is recovering. Another is the fact it touched an area where a previous reversal began. I took MFG, SEK and ARP near their lows. Two out of three have come good. Was also happy to join TH in buying the fib retrace in PIM. Missed QBL in the low 5s - hesitated a second too long. Got something out of NTC for a second day and made beer money on LRS.