Day Trading Pre Open 15 December 2017

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

The share market has lost ground as gains for materials and energy companies were offset by falls in the utilities and property trust sectors, and the Australian dollar has been boosted by strong jobs growth.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.2 per cent at 6,011.3 points at 1630 AEDT, with low turnover suggesting traders were holding onto gains ahead of Christmas.

Citi director of equities sales Karen Jorritsma said market sentiment remained cautiously optimistic and shares were largely unaffected by the overnight US rate hike that had been long discussed and well priced in.
"With the market holding through 6,000 points, I'd argue it's still grinding higher as investors look to lock up profits ahead of a 2018 that's already been marked by some pretty bullish offshore sentiment," Ms Jorritsma said.

The big miners were relatively steady, and Fortescue Metals shed 1.7 per cent to $4.76, while South32 gained 3.2 per cent to $3.26 and Independence Group gained 6.5 per cent to $4.28.
Whitehaven Coal added 4.9 per cent to $4.31 and Caltex Australia gained 3.7 per cent to $34.77.

Caltex said it would continue to supply Woolworths service stations after the competition watchdog opposed BP's Australia's takeover of the Woolworths petrol business.
Woolworths shares dropped 0.6 per cent to $26.88.

The big four banks were mixed, with Westpac up 0.4 per cent at $31.55, Commonwealth Bank up 0.2 per cent at $80.44, National Australia Bank down 0.4 per cent at $29.82 and ANZ was 0.6 per cent lower at $28.50.
Myer plunged 9.7 per cent to a new record low of 65.5 cents after its sales deteriorated in the first two weeks of December and the company warned its half year profit will be lower than in the same period a year ago.

The Australian dollar hit a high one month high of $US76.75 after November jobs figures showed it was the strongest month for job gains in more than two years.

ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 10.5 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 6,011.3 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 6.7 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 6,096.4 points.
* The SPI200 futures contract was down 14 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 6,013 points.
* National turnover was 3.1 billion securities traded worth $7.1 billion.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 76.65 US cents, from 75.75 US cents on Wednesday
* 86.31 Japanese yen, from 85.84 yen
* 64.82 euro cents, from 64.43 euro cents
* 57.07 British pence, from 56.83 pence
* 109.50 NZ cents, from 109.06 NZ cents

GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,258.18 per fine ounce, from $US1,243.95 per fine ounce on Wednesday.

In the U.S., the S&P 500 and the Dow were trading flat in early afternoon on Thursday as losses in healthcare stocks such as Johnson & Johnson were offset by gains in shares of technology and consumer discretionary companies.

Walt Disney (DIS.N) struck a deal to buy Twenty-First Century Fox’s (FOXA.O) assets for $52.4 billion in stock.
Fox rose 4.12 percent and Disney 2.2 percent, boosting the consumer discretionary sector .SPLRCD by 0.5 percent. Other media stocks Netflix (NFLX.O) and Comcast (CMCSA.O) were also higher.

Gains in technology stocks Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and Facebook (FB.O) lifted the Nasdaq up 0.15 percent to 6,886.32.
Healthcare stocks .SPXHC were the biggest laggards, led by a 0.7 percent fall in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and 1.3 percent fall in AbbVie (ABBV.N).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 0.04 percent at 24,594.28, while the S&P 500 .SPX was down 0.02 percent, at 2,662.32.
Indexes were still hovering near record levels on optimism over the progress in Republican-led tax overhaul and the Federal Reserve’s economic growth projection.

A final tax bill could be unveiled by Friday, with decisive votes expected next week in both chambers.
The Fed on Wednesday raised interest rate by a quarter-percentage-point for the third time in 2017 and raised its 2018 economic growth forecast to 2.5 percent from 2.1 percent.
“Talks on tax reforms and the Fed announcement brings confidence in the fact that the economy is still moving in a positive and sustained fashion,” said Paul Springmeyer, investment managing director at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management.

“You’ve seen some M&A activity hit the screens that is driving some interest as well - that’s a three-legged soul that’s moving the market.”
Growth outlook was also bolstered by data that showed a better-than-expected increase in U.S. retail sales in November.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a 44-1/2-year low last week.
Telecom service providers Verizon (VZ.N), AT&T (T.N) and CenturyLink (CTL.N) were down between 0.7 percent to 1 percent and weighed on the S&P telecom index .SPLRCL.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,485 to 1,365. On the Nasdaq, 1,523 issues fell and 1,314 advanced.

Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup

Friday brekkie is Avo on Rye with Scrambled Egg, Baby Spinach and Mushies. Sip on a Blueberry and Mint Smoothie.



Happy Trading! Ten days to Christmas.