daytrade diaries... july 21 part 2

Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market hit an eight-month high this morning but was struggling to hold a sixth day of gains.

At 1 pm, the ASX 200 was up 5 points or 0.12% at 4055 after setting a new 2009 high of 4083. Market sentiment wasn't helped by a disappointing sales report from Harvey Norman that saw the retailer's shares fall more than 8% at one stage this morning. Telecoms (-1.2%), property trusts (-0.7%) and financials (-0.4%) dragged on the market.

Asian markets were mixed. The Nikkei was playing catch-up after yesterday's public holiday, up 1.35% (apologies for quoting it incorrectly yesterday - overlooked the holiday), while the Hang Seng was off 0.57%. Dow futures were recently down 30 points. Gold dipped back below $950, recently trading at $948.10. Oil slid back towards $64, recently trending down at $64.04.

Doesn't look like our market is waiting for a sell signal from overseas. There are potential reversal signs coming through from several financials and mid-caps.

Profitable morning here but well below potential. Exited CTP and MGX early on change of direction. Caught the bounce in AGO. Thought I'd lucked into a big win when GGP went into a trading halt just after I bought, but in the end was lucky to scrape out with a slim profit. Went back to the bargain bins and scalped PDY from 3.0, added a tiny AZC position at the 4.0 support level and less convincingly, EMA at 26.5.

Potential overnight holds: a couple of breakouts in media - FXJ and WAN. But overall there's caution in the air once again. Today's XJO candle looks "toppy" - plenty of time for that to change, of course. Here's hoping.