daytrading jan 9 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares slipped for a third straight day amid weak US futures, declines in Asia and disappointing pre-Christmas retail sales.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 16 points or 0.4% at 4091 as gains for the defensive telecoms, utilities and gold sectors failed to offset falls among financials, industrials and miners. Consumer discretionary stocks eased 0.5% after the November retail sales report showed no uplift from improving consumer confidence or recent rate cuts. The Australian Bureau of Statistics survey showed no increase in sales from October.

"While November's rate cut led consumer confidence to soar into optimistic territory, it did not provide the expected boost to spending," Moody's Economy.com analyst Katrina Ell told Fairfax. "Widespread discounting to get consumers back spending helped boost volumes, but is cutting into turnover."

A separate report showed a sharp increase in house sales in November. Sales of new homes rose a seasonally-adjusted 6.8% from October.

US futures weakened following weekend remarks by a member of the Federal Reserve that appeared to cut the odds on further monetary easing. Dow futures were recently off 44 points or nearly 0.4%. Federal Bank of St Louis President James Bullard said the recent improvement in the economic outlook in the US meant the Fed probably won't need to launch QE3.

In Asia, Shanghai fell 0.21% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.19%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a public holiday.

Crude oil futures slumped 75 cents this morning to US$101.16 a barrel. Spot gold was $6.40 weaker at US$1,610.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0164.


This feels like the slowest start to any trading year I can recall, with caution over Europe compounding seasonal factors. Well done if you're squeezing a quid out of it. Just one new trade for me this morning - AQA from under $6.