Daytrading December 11 afternoon

Thanks Mitta and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market is on track for a third straight weekly loss after a cautious rebound stalled this morning.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was trading 11 points or 0.2% lower at 5027 and on track for a fourth straight decline despite overnight gains on Wall Street. The index has given up more than 130 points this week. It hit 5015 in the first half hour of trade today before reversing on gains in health stocks +0.8%, utilities +0.3% and property trusts +0.2%. The rally faded as the financials sector fell back to neutral and resource stocks declined.

A downbeat week has seen most major markets around the globe retreat ahead of a likely rate rise next week in the  US and what is widely expected to be more downbeat economic data from China this weekend. Overnight, the S&P 500 rose 0.21% to its first gain in four sessions.

“There is tentative hope that the Asia-Pacific stock markets will end the week on a high note after the strong US session,” Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG, told Bloomberg. “There have been some positive signs that perhaps the worst of the pre-rate rise selloff may be behind us.”

Japan's Nikkei improved 1.17%, China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.44% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gave up 0.22%. Dow futures were recently up 43 points or 0.25%.

Crude oil futures eased 32 cents this morning to US$36.54 a barrel. Spot gold was $4.20 weaker at US$1,067.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.56 US cents.


This week feels like the market is winding down to Christmas. Been a lot of pressure on recent faves as traders try to close the books before the beach break. If you're new to the game, the bad news is it gets worse before it gets better in the second or third week of January. You can't 'force' trades at this time of year. Gotta be patient, stay alert, be quick on the trigger when the opportunities arise and have something else to keep you sane when they don't. Trading: one of those distracted mornings where everyone in an office with nothing to do decided to call to shoot the breeze. It's one of the hazards of being the 'mate who works from home'. When I finally got my head in the right space I caught bounces in SEA and CDD.