daytrade diaries... august 7 part 2

Half-time round-up:

Investors pared their bets across the region this morning ahead of tonight's US payroll report.

At lunchtime, the ASX 200 was down 35 points or 0.81% at 4291, dragged lower by selling in the big miners and banks. Health stocks (+0.5%) and utilities (+0.1%) benefitted from some rotation from cyclicals towards defensive stocks. A disappointing profit result from WAN this morning off-set some of yesterday's optimism in the media sector after NWS's well-received report.

Asian markets sold off. Japan's Nikkei lost 1.01% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.93% in morning trade. Dow futures were recently at -9.

Been distracted this morning and managed just two trips to the bargain bins for scalps of RAU (successful) and AON (hasn't budged) near support. Still holding MEO, SFR and AMC.

Potential overnight holds: more likely to close positions than add new ones, given the uncertainty ahead of tonight's US jobs report. However, if the dice fall right tonight, then on Monday I'll be watching ADN (breakout), PAN (reversal candle today?), FMG (good-looking chart - thanks Kevi) and PBG (looks like it's readying for another run).