Day Trading May 5 afternoon

Thanks all for the thumbs yesterday - glad the post struck a chord.


Half-time round-up:

The share market's losing run stretched into a fourth session as a commodities slump pushed mining stocks towards six-month lows.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 24 points or 0.4% lower at 5852, more than 100 points off Monday's two-year closing high. The benchmark index hit reverse on Tuesday as the financials reporting season got off to a weak start and commodities turned sharply lower on signs of a slowdown in China.

The metals & mining index slumped 2.3% this morning and materials 1.8% to levels last seen in November. The energy sector fell 1.9% after crude oil collapsed almost 5% to levels last seen in November before OPEC struck a deal to limit production.

"Commodities slumped across the board as the market loses faith with the oil supply cuts drawing down inventories," an ANZ spokesman told CNBC. "An apparent financial tightening in China exacerbated the bearishness in the market."

China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.85%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.82%. Japan's Nikkei remained closed. Dow futures were recently down nine points or 0.04%.

Crude oil futures fell another ten cents or 0.22% this morning to US$45.42 a barrel. Gold futures held steady at US$1,228.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.96 US cents.


Challenging times. The XJO is moving towards the lower band of its post-Trump up-trend.  A visit to 5800 looks increasingly likely. Wouldn't say the bears were in charge unless that breaks decisively. However, the miners look to have a lot of room to move lower if commodities continue to crater. Next batch of Chinese data is going to be very significant. Trading: fewer fence palings to the face this morning, but also fewer trades. SUL was worth a look when it tested support around $8.80, however I got off the bus a few stops too early. Only one trade so far.