daytrade diaries... december 23 part 2

Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market ambled to a two-week high this morning in low-volume holiday trade.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 30 points or 0.64% at 4734 as regional markets followed Wall Street higher. All sectors were trading flat or better, with gold +1.5%, consumer staples +1.4% and telecoms +1.2% the pick of the sectors.

"Its a bit of a mixed bag, despite the positive lead from offshore," Macquarie Private Wealth advisor Helen Spencer told Fairfax. "There is a... lack of momentum leading into the Christmas break."

Gloucester Coal shares surged 25% after resuming trading following Macarthur's takeover offer. Macarthur was recently up 3.6%. Babcock & Brown Power initially jumped 26% after signing a moratorium with North West Shelf gas sellers and restructuring its loan agreement. BBP was recently trading 12% higher.

Japanese markets closed for the Emperor's Birthday after yesterday hitting a three-month high but Shanghai, notably weak recently, recovered 0.79% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.11%. Dow futures were flat at +1.

Crude oil futures rallied strongly this morning, up 63 cents to $74.64 a barrel. The spot gold price also made up ground, rising $4.10 to $1,086.70 an ounce.


Not a bad morning. No fireworks but it's playing out pretty much as hoped. Rode LEI from the open, exited too soon. Scalped ADN off its lows. MML continues to recover from Monday's low.