daytrade diaries... november 19 part 2

Half-time round-up:

Local stocks were struggling to hold early gains at lunchtime today after selling in Japan dragged down US futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 5 points or 0.1% at 4733 as the familiar pattern of early advances surrendering to a slow fade played out for a third morning. Several sectors had slipped into the red by 1 pm, with IT (-1.4%), consumer discretionary (-0.7%) and consumer staples (-0.6%) the worst of the bunch. Gold (+1.2%) and financials (+0.4%) were the pick of sectors trending higher.

In economic news, the average weekly wage in Australia for full-time employees rose 0.9% last quarter for an annual rate of 5.2%, seasonally adjusted. The average weekly wage is now $1,200.60.

Japan's Nikkei has been trending lower all week and this morning slumped 1.07%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng opened lower but was recently up 0.24%. Dow futures followed Japan lower, recently at a mildly bearish -18.

Crude oil futures slipped 15 cents to $79.44 a barrel this morning. The spot gold price was little changed at $1,144.20 an ounce.


A morning of low achievement here. Volatility seems to have dropped right off over the last few weeks. Bought AIX near the close yesterday and flipped it for a quick profit at today's open. Watching BBG for a bounce. Good to see VIL continue to rise ahead of the Fausse Point spud at the end of the month.