daytrades july 22 afternoon

Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:

Regional markets rolled higher this morning as European moves to contain the sovereign debt crisis spurred risk appetite.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 48 points or 1.1% at 4604 and on track to end the week more than 120 points higher. The banks once again led the way, driving the financials sector up 2.3%. The materials sector was wallowing near break-even at +0.2% following yesterday's disappointing Chinese manufacturing data. Gold was the only sector to trade in the red at lunchtime.

"The market is reacting to the strength in Europe," CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy told Fairfax. "The other positive... is the better-than-expected earnings season we're seeing in the US."

Asian markets joined the global rally, although the reaction in Shanghai was muted. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.86%, Shanghai 0.26% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.58%. Dow futures were recently ahead 16 points or 0.1%.

Analysts at BNP Paribas hailed last night's second Greek bailout package as "a major step towards stabilising the markets and [marking] a resolution of the debt crisis." The company said in a statement quoted on MarketWatch: "The deal struck by the euro-zone heads of state in their emergency meeting on Thursday went beyond market expectations."

Crude oil futures rallied 24 cents this morning to US $99.42 a barrel. Spot gold was 70 cents weaker at US $1,589.80 an ounce. The dollar eased a fraction to US $1.0838.


This week has been a beauty for buy-and-hold traders, more challenging for intraday traders. I compounded a modest weekly return by ignoring my own advice from last week and buying this morning's bad news from AUN. As I said last week, it's easy to lose a lot of money that way and I need a fairly robust recovery this afternoon to avoid that fate. I've donned a dunce's cap and am posting this from the corner.