Afternoon trading Feb 21

Thanks Endless and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market held its ground this morning despite negative leads and a poorly-received update from index heavyweight BHP.

The ASX 200 gave up 21 points in early trade before clawing back to a gain of two points or less than 0.1% at 5943 at the mid-point of the session. Consumer staples kept the index above water, surging 3.5% as profit results exceeded expectations. Additional support came from consumer discretionary +0.8%, the Small Ords +0.6% and energy +0.6%. The metals & mining sector slumped 2.8% after BHP announced lower profits than analysts expected, triggering downgrades.

US stocks retreated overnight after bond yields crept higher and Dow component Walmart suffered its heaviest percentage fall in thirty years. The Dow lost 1.01%. The broader S&P 500 gave up 0.58%. S&P 500 futures had recently rebounded 4.75 points or 0.18%.

A subdued Asian session saw Hong Kong's Hang Seng put on 0.2% and Japan's Nikkei 0.3%. Trade on China's Shanghai Composite remained suspended for Lunar New Year holidays.

Crude oil futures edged up nine cents or 0.15% this morning to US$61.77 a barrel. Gold futures eased 30 cents or 0.02% to US$1,330.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 78.76 US cents.


Good to see the local index holding its ground despite obvious headwinds this morning. A close at this level would be the third in a row around here, suggesting growing resilience. Earnings are providing most of the excitement. This is not my favourite time of the year - blooming fundamentals muddying the outlook with facts and figures. Harumph. Commiserations to GSW holders/traders. Bad news tends to come in clumps when a company gets it as wrong as this one has. Having dabbled a toe yesterday arvo and got burnt, I left it alone today. Currently stuck with a couple of zombie trades. Week began well but went downhill quickly.