Day Trading June 5 afternoon

Thanks Zero and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares sank for the first time in a week as a terrorist attack in the UK weighed on US equity futures and encouraged defensive buying.

The ASX 200 fell 46 points or 0.8% to 5742 at the halfway point today as the big banks dipped towards last week's five-month low. The financial sector dropped 1.8%, metals & mining 0.8% and energy 0.7% as traders rotated into traditional defensives, including gold stocks +1.2% and utilities +0.4%.

The falls came at the start of a week that includes a Reserve Bank rate decision tomorrow, a quarterly GDP update on Wednesday and Chinese trade data and a UK election on Thursday. Overshadowing today's action was a weekend terror attack in London, the third in the UK this year, and soft US jobs data released on Friday.

"If you look at various attacks in the past six to nine months in Europe or other parts of the world, their impact or the impression on the market tends to be very limited, if at all," JPMorgan Asset Management's Chief Asia Market Strategist Tai Hui told CNBC. "Obviously, if that does steer towards a change in the political landscape in the UK for the election this week or Europe more broadly over the course of (the) next several quarters, obviously that might have a marginal market impact."

S&P 500 futures were recently down 2.25 points or 0.09%. China's Shanghai Composite eased 0.35% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.13%. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.14%.

Crude oil futures bounced 18 cents or 0.38% this morning to US$47.84 a barrel. Gold futures advanced $2.60 or 0.2% to US$1,282.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 74.55 US cents.


A few welcome glimmers of life in the spec end over the last few sessions. Much needed - had reached the point where I was getting dangerously comfortable with not trading. I'm too young/poor to retire. Medical marijuana offering select gains after a period of heavy falls. Trading: took the early weakness in API as a cue to exit with a slim gain. Watching RFG for any change in direction, intraday prospect at best.