day trading jan 30 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Soft US futures and falls in Asian equities ahead of tonight's European Union summit helped push Australian shares lower this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 16 points or 0.4% at 4271 as weak financials, industrials and defensive sectors outweighed slender gains in gold and property trusts.

Asian markets retreated as European leaders headed to Brussels to sign off tonight on a permanent EU rescue fund and tighter budget rules. Shanghai dropped 0.52% as it resumed trade after a week-long break for the Lunar New Year. Japan's Nikkei eased 0.6% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.39%. Dow futures were recently off 58 points or nearly 0.5%.

"On a macro-risk level, the Greece debt issues will remain a source of uncertainty and might dampen the risk mood ahead of the EU summit today," IG Markets analyst Stan Shamu told Fairfax. "Markets seem to have already priced in a debt deal being announced very soon."

Crude oil futures dropped 64 cents this morning to US$99.12 a barrel. Spot gold was $4.90 weaker at US$1,732.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0598.


A few warning signs this morning with risk assets selling off: oil, the Aussie dollar, Asian equities. Might be market "noise", might be the start of a pullback. Things are definitely looking short-term toppy just now, as Redbacka pointed out in his excellent weekly wrap. To be honest, I'm hanging out for a pullback to create some opportunities. Been a real struggle to find trades lately. The temptation when the trades aren't coming is to bend your trading rules and lower your standards - and that's when the market paddles your behind. Squeezed a wage out of BSL today after buying on Friday, but that's it for the session so far.