Afternoon day trading July 21

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The ASX slid towards a weekly loss as potential political gridlock in the US dampened buying across Asia and traders took profits on this week's relief rally in bank stocks.

The ASX 200 declined 28 points or 0.5% to 5734 midway through the session as the local market remained mired in its recent trading range. The benchmark index has been unable to string together weekly advances since the start of June, tracking sideways for two months. A close around current levels would represent a loss of roughly 30 points for the week.

Dragging on the index were declines in metals & mining -1.5%, energy -1.4% and utilities -1%. The financial sector eased 0.6% from yesterday's two-month closing high.

Asian markets retreated following reports that US investigations into President Trump's alleged Russian links had expanded to include his business activities, another distraction from his ambition to lower business taxes. China's Shanghai Composite dipped 0.22%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.11% and Japan's Nikkei 0.25%. Dow futures were recently six points or 0.03% lower.

"This revelation is huge as just last week, President Trump said that expanding the investigation beyond Russia would be out of bounds," OANDA senior trader Stephen Innes told CNBC. "So with [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller broadening the inquisition into Trump's business dealings, US political risk could move to whole new levels as this foxtrot plays out."

Crude oil futures declined 39 cents or 0.83% this morning to US$46.73 a barrel. Gold futures gave up $1 or 0.08% to US$1,251.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 78.92 US cents.


Lousy market for index investors, but the intraday moves are big enough to offer range traders/day traders some action. I'm relieved to be making a living once more after a fairly disturbing couple of months through to the end of the financial year. Took a pip from NSL this morning and closed out a slim profit in DUB from yesterday. CSR was the morning's misstep, at least so far. Looking for a push back towards the $4 mark.