daytrades jan 20 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian investors sold off cyclical stocks in favour of defensive sectors as the share market this morning pulled back from yesterday's nine-month high.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 36 points or 0.75% at 4798, with resource stocks the main drag on the market following BHP's quarterly production report and news that a key investor has sold out of Fortescue Metals. The handful of sectors that bucked the downtrend were topped by traditional defensives, including consumers staples +0.4%, telecoms +0.2% and utilities +0.2%.

"It looks like there will be widespread selling across the Australian market today," IG Markets research analyst Ben Potter told Fairfax. "The only saving grace may be a set of stronger-than-expected numbers out of China when it reports CPI, GDP, industrial production and retail sales [due at 1 pm]."

BHP's December-quarter report revealed record iron ore production but coal production was down 30% in Queensland as heavy rain took its toll. Shares in BHP were recently down 1.6%. Shares in FMG fell more than 6% on reports that Singapore's Temasek Holdings has sold its 4% stake in the miner.

Consumers are resigned to higher inflation following the Queensland floods, according to a survey released this morning. The MI survey showed consumers expect the inflation rate to rise to 4.6% this month, from an expected rate of 2.8% in December.

Asian markets retreated following the worst session on the S&P 500 for two months. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.1%, Shanghai 0.82% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.7%. Dow futures were recently at -3.

Crude oil futures fell another 14 cents this morning to $90.70 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.60 weaker at $1,367.40 an ounce. The dollar fell back below parity, recently buying 99.62 U.S. cents.


A tough morning, but not as weak as I expected. Hate to disappoint Kaya and Endless but I under-performed this morning. Most of my buy orders were a cent or two too bearish and went unfilled. BDI was my only worthwhile trade. A part-fill in UXA delivered beer money and I'm underwater on FMG. Just grabbed a few CPU on pullback. There's obviously plenty of optimism left in our market. Let's see what effect the Chinese numbers have.