Daytrading April 1 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market shed yesterday's gains before staging a partial recovery as Chinese factory data topped expectations.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 70 points or 1.4% weaker at 5013 after tumbling as low as 4988 as institutional traders unwound yesterday's end-of-quarter 'window dressing'. The recovery briefly gathered steam after China's official manufacturing gauge turned positive for the first time in eight months. The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 50.2 last month from 49 in February. Readings above 50 indicate output is expanding. Economists had expected a much more modest improvement to 49.3. Read more here.

The dollar rose to 76.67 US cents following the Chinese data, which also included a rise in the services gauge to 53.8 from a Feb reading of 52.7. A rival private factory gauge improved to 49.7 from a February reading of 48.

The metals & mining sector rallied 0.9%. Hardest hit by this morning's tumble were utilities -2.7%, I.T. -2.2%, financials -1.9% and consumer staples -1.5%.

The market yesterday enjoyed its best session in four weeks as traders closed out a winning month.

“We had a great month and the question now is whether that can continue into the second quarter,” Evan Lucas, markets strategist at IG, told Bloomberg. “We are cautious. Still, the bright spot is that the US is backing further and further away from rate hikes.”

The Chinese data failed to lift the recent gloom over Asian markets. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.31%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.58% and Japan's Nikkei 2.51%. Dow futures were down four points or 0.02%.

Crude oil futures eased 19 cents or 0.5% this morning to US$38.15 a barrel. Gold futures were $2.10 or 0.2% softer at US$1,233.50 an ounce.


There were audible sighs of relief when AUZ resumed trade this morning. Glad it had a good outcome for holders - never nice to get caught in a capital raising, holding your breath for several days until trade resumes. Trading: low-key session here. Needed two attempts to get a profit out of IPL. Squeezed something out of MCT. Excitement level: low.