Afternoon trading December 11

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A tentative rebound off two-year lows stuttered this morning as housing data disappointed and US equity futures fell away - again.

An opening 35-point rally in the ASX 200 faded to 12 points or 0.2% at 5566 mid-session as bank and consumer stocks turned negative amid fears of the impact of weaker house prices on the outlook for consumer borrowing and spending .The consumer staples sector shed 0.7%, consumer discretionary 0.7% and financials 0.3%. A two-speed market saw solid gains for I.T. stocks +1.9%, health +1.4%, materials +0.9% and industrials +0.6%.

Figures released this morning showed house prices declined for a third straight quarter over the three months to September, dropping 1.5% after losing 0.7% over each of the previous two quarters.

Adding to headwinds for the local market, S&P 500 futures steadily lost ground for much of the morning, recently off 7.25 points or 0.27%. The decline mirrored a similar fall yesterday before a sharp overnight reversal saw the S&P 500 close 0.18% higher.

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite inched up 0.28%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.11% andJapan's Nikkei gained 0.09%.

Crude oil futures recouped 25 cents or 0.49% this morning to US$51.25 a barrel. Gold futures added $1.60 or 0.13%to US$1,251 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.98 US cents.

 

 

Our market has been a cats paw for US index futures over the last few weeks. It's not always the case but the relationship seems more acute in times of heightened global volatility when traders are more likely to jump at shadows. Trading: Iress played nice for the first time in a couple of weeks, so I can't blame that for buying WSI at the low, then letting it go two pips higher. That one's on me. I have a sound understanding of how fear drives the market but I'm hopeless at reading greed and FOMO. Also clipped a ticket on AZY. Solid morning, shoulda been better.