Daytrading March 16 afternoon

Thanks Beany and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

The share market extended two weeks of losses this morning before paring its decline as the big banks and mining giants led a turnaround.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was eight points or more than 0.1% lower at 5806 but on the improve after hitting a session low of 5762. Gold stocks +1%, financials +0.4% and consumer staples +0.3% were the pick of the sectors. Energy -2%, consumer discretionary -0.7% and utilities -0.7% were the biggest drags. The metals & mining sector was off 0.4% but in recovery after earlier hitting its weakest level since late January.

The retreat followed  a weak session on Wall Street on Friday and a mixed morning in Asia. China's Shanghai Composite rallied 0.67%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.08% and Japan's Nikkei added 0.24%. Dow futures were recently off 10 points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures slumped another 69 cents or 1.5% this morning to US$44.15 a barrel. Spot gold was off 20 cents at US$1,158.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.54 US cents.


Well done to the MJP traders. I bought late Friday but settled for a quick profit near the close for two nights of undisturbed sleep over the weekend. Trading: one of those days where I spent the first half hour making money and the rest of the morning using that positive bias to find creative ways to give it back. Good early wins in ILU, CAB and OSH. Foolishly went back into ILU and took MRM a pip or two too early. Still time to come good.