Afternoon trading Janury 14

Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Well done @Bugsam for taking on the tough pre-market gig. Fine opening knock.


Half-time round-up:

The share market poked its head back above 5800 before surrendering gains as the lingering US government shutdown weighed on US futures.

The ASX 200 hit 5801 before fading to breakeven at 5775 mid-session. The initial rally was led by telecoms +0.5%, financials +0.4% and consumer staples +0.3%. Hindering the advance were declines in consumer discretionary -1.5%, energy -0.9% and materials -0.25%.

US futures cast a long shadow after last week's strong rally stalled on Friday. S&P 500 futures were recently down 16.1 points or 0.62%. On Friday the major indices closed barely changed as both the Dow and S&P 500 balked at round-number overhead resistance.

"The lingering question has yet to be answered: are we experiencing a recovery, or will this be a faded rally?" Kyle Rodda of IG Markets told Fairfax. "The S&P500 couldn't manage to break the big psychological resistance level of 2600. The bulls appeared to simply stall on Friday, with the US market according to the S&P500 closing a very narrow 0.01 per cent lower.

China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.24% ahead of the monthly trade report. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off 0.82%. Trade on Japan's Nikkei was suspended for a public holiday.

Crude oil futures improved six cents or 0.12% this morning to US$51.65 a barrel. Gold futures added $2.90 or 0.22%to US$1,292.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.12 US cents.

 

 

Trading: was left in the starting blocks this morning. Watched PUR and hummed and hawed until it went without me. Swung and missed the low in DSE. Also been stalking FBR but missed the bounce. Finally got on board GML on retrace.