Day Trading Pre Open - 14 February 2018

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

The Australian share market has closed higher following gains on Wall Street and as several companies reported profit growth.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 0.6 per cent 5,855.9 points at 1630 AEDT, with energy stocks the only sector to lose ground.

Philip Capital senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market took the lead of Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7 per cent, thought it's performance was not as strong.

"The market did fluctuate but it has ended on a positive note," Mr Heffernan said.
"We have had some major reports today and while Cochlear's result was underwhelming, most reported profit growth which augurs well for the rest of the season."

A weaker US dollar helped drive a rise in metal prices, and BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were each around 1.1 per cent higher, while gold miners including Newcrest, Regis Resources and Evolution were significantly stronger.

Cochlear shares were flat at $171.74 after its first-half profit fell one per cent due to the timing of a large Chinese tender and US tax changes.

Elsewhere in the health care sector, CSL gained 1.3 per cent, Ramsay Health Care added 1.9 per cent, and Ansell was 2.2 per cent stronger.


Energy stocks were lacklustre despite global oil prices stabilising after their worst weekly decline in two years.
Woodside Petroleum, which releases financial results on Wednesday, dropped 0.7 per cent, Origin Energy shed 1.3 per cent, while Santos bucked the trend to add 0.8 per cent.

The big four banks were modestly higher, with Commonwealth Bank the best performer with a gain 0.6 per cent.

Building materials supplier Boral posted a 13 per cent lift in first-half profit, but its shares dropped two per cent.
Road toll giant Transurban racked up a near fourfold increase in first-half profit to $331 million, but its shares fell 0.2 per cent.

ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 35.2 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,855.9 points
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 37.3 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,957 points
* The SPI200 futures contract was up 55 points, or 0.96 per cent, at 5,796 points
* National turnover was 3.05 billion securities traded worth $6.4 billion.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 78.64 US cents, from 78.35 US cents on Monday
* 85.17 Japanese yen, from 85.16 yen
* 63.85 euro cents, from 63.79 euro cents
* 56.76 British pence, from 56.51 pence
* 108.26 NZ cents, from 107.80 NZ cents

GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,326.45 per fine ounce, from $US1,323.40 per fine ounce on Monday.

BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 1.9828pct, from 1.9948pct on Monday
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.8228pct, from 2.8582pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* March 2018 10-year bond futures contract at 97.13 (implying a yield of 2.87pct), from 97.095 (implying a yield of 2.905pct) on Monday
* March 2018 3-year bond futures contract at 97.86 (2.14pct), from 97.84 (2.16pct).
(*Bond market closes taken at 1630 AEDT previous local session; currency closes taken from 1700 AEDT previous local session)

U.S. stock indexes fell on Tuesday, undoing two strong days of gains that have settled some investor nerves ahead of a crucial reading on inflation.

Strong U.S. consumer price and retail sales data on Wednesday would fan fears over rising inflation and the pace of interest rate rises - the same worries that sparked a stock market rout after U.S. jobs data on Feb. 2.

“Investors are probably positioning with a bit of a risk-off mindset going into those two (economic data reports) tomorrow,” said Matt Miskin, market strategist at John Hancock Investments.
“The core CPI estimate is a modest decrease from last month. But in the event that inflation does accelerate, that could lead volatility to continue as the Goldilocks environment may be under further pressure.”

Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester, a voting member in the central bank’s rate-setting committee this year, said the recent stock market sell-off and jump in volatility will not damage the economy’s overall strong prospects.

After a wildly volatile week that pushed the market into correction territory, U.S. stocks gained roughly 3 percent over Friday and Monday, their best two-day gain since June 2016.

By 12:34 p.m. ET (1734 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI dipped half a percent to 24,484.07, the S&P 500 .SPX 0.3 percent to 2,648.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC just 12.38 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,969.58.
Ten of the 11 major S&P indexes were lower, led by losses in the technology .SPLRCT and healthcare .SPXHC indexes.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR were hovering at 2.8439 percent, shy of a four-year peak of 2.9020 percent hit on Monday. [US/]

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, a widely-followed measure of short-term stock volatility and seen as a contributing factor itself to the selloff, was last trading at 26.39 points, half the 50-point mark it touched last week.

The recent pullback wiped out all of January’s gains for the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow, both now down more than 1 percent for the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is still clinging to a 0.87 percent gain for the year.


Of the 70 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings, nearly 78 percent of them topped profit expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data. That is above the 72 percent average beat-rate in the past four quarters.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,668 to 1,165. On the Nasdaq, 1,585 issues fell and 1,220 advanced.

Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup

A special Valentine's Day (if that's your thing) themed breakfast this morning. Heart Frittatas, Mini Fruit Platter and two days running - coffee!!



Happy trading, play nicely and make informed decisions.