daytrading feb 28 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares gave up early gains this morning as the big banks and BHP fell for a second day.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was flat at 4267 after earlier hitting 4285. Losses among resource stocks and financials offset gains in consumer stocks, industrials, small caps and defensive sectors.

Japan's Nikkei was hurt by a rising yen and news of the country's biggest bankruptcy in two years, falling 0.66%. Shanghai put on 0.03% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.57%. Dow futures were recently up 10 points or 0.1%.

Weighing on sentiment was news that Standard & Poor's has cut Greece's debt rating to "selective default" despite the recent deal negotiated with its lenders. The rating is a step below the country's previous junk-level CC rating.

Crude oil futures rebounded 28 cents this morning to US$107.98 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.90 weaker at US$1,767.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0769.


Still plenty of action on the bourse, even if the index hasn't done much. A nice morning here, thanks to a big rebound in BPT. Didn't catch the absolute low or high but took a fat chunk out of the middle. Also had a part-fill in FAR on pullback that doesn't amount to much.