DT January 31 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The ASX slipped towards its first losing month since October after Wall Street's worst night since the presidential election curbed risk appetite.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 34 points or 0.6% lower at 5627 and on track for a second straight losing session. The defensive gold sector was for a second day the only sector to resist the downtrend, rising 0.1%. The list of losses was topped by energy -1.8%, metals & mining -1.3%, materials -1.1% and telecoms -0.9%.

A close around current levels would leave the benchmark index with a loss of roughly 40 points for the month, breaking a run of positive months since the US election in November. Today's retreat came after the S&P 500 dropped 0.6% overnight amid concerns about the global reaction to the Trump administration's policy program.

“For these current market prices to be justified, the Trump agenda must unfold perfectly,” David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in the US, told MarketWatch. “But the reverse is under way, and fragmented policy combined with obfuscation is now a growing detriment to growth acceleration.”

Japan's Nikkei declined 0.98%. Other major Asian markets were shuttered for Lunar New Year holidays. Dow futures were recently flat at -4 points or -0.02%.

Crude oil futures eased another seven cents or 0.13% this morning to US$52.56 a barrel. Gold futures improved $3.50 or 0.29% to US$1,199.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 75.61 US cents.


Trading: fairly fruitless session - one of those days when every time I placed an order, the herd piled in above. Rinse and repeat from one share to the next. Session summed up by scoring 1196 shares in NOX - needed a four-pip bounce to cover brokerage, lol. On the plus side, the bounce in IIL has been a beauty.