Afternoon trading January 22

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares unwound yesterday's slender gains as US futures remained mired in the red ahead of the resumption of regular trade tonight.

The ASX 200 retreated 29 points or 0.5% to 5861 mid-session as yesterday's weak Chinese growth figures continued to cast a long shadow. With Wall Street closed overnight for a public holiday, investors took their cues from a soft session in Europe, where most major indices lost ground. S&P 500 futures were recently down 13.75 points or 0.51%, hinting at a weak start to the trading week in the US tonight.

Adding to headwinds, the International Monetary Fund yesterday downgraded its outlook for global growth, citing trade war tensions and slowing momentum.

"A range of triggers beyond escalating trade tensions could spark a further deterioration in risk sentiment with adverse growth implications, especially given high levels of public and private debt," the Fund said.

Financials were the biggest drag here, falling 1.2%. The metals & mining sector shed 0.7% and gold 0.3%. Utilities added 0.7%, telecoms 0.4% and health 0.3%.

A flat morning on Asian markets saw China's Shanghai Composite down 0.35% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.24%. Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.12%.

Crude oil futures dipped seven cents or 0.13% this morning to US$53.73 a barrel. Gold futures gave up $3.90 or 0.3%to US$1,278.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.55 US cents.

 

 

Trading: got on board EN1 during yesterday's late plunge but was in too much of a hurry to lock in a profit this morning. Exited the train at least ten stops too early. Argh. Scalped half a pip from DEG. Watching CDX, WSI, AHZ.