daytrade diaries... february 9 part 2

Half-time round-up:

Australian stocks sank to a fresh five-month low this morning after a new wave of selling swamped the big banks.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 38 points or 0.85% lower at 4483 as the financial sector slumped 1.8% after Macquarie disappointed the market with its profit outlook. Mining stocks were down 0.7%. The only sectors to buck the downtrend were health +0.9%, telecoms +0.5% and property trusts +0.2%.

Macquarie predicted full-year profit of more than $1 billion but that was short of the amount analysts expected. MQG shares were recently down nearly 6%.

"The market was probably looking for a little bit more in that one," Cameron Securities client adviser Adrian Leppinus told Fairfax. "I think that?s weighing a bit on the index and the rest of the banks are all a bit lower. All the financials, in particular Macquarie, have been the big losers today."

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei slid 0.36%, Shanghai was up 0.47% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.29%. Dow futures were at -3.

Crude oil futures gave back much of their overnight gains, down 0.65% to $71.42 a barrel. The spot gold price edged $2.70 higher this morning to $1.064.70 an ounce.


A tricky morning and I haven't made much of it. Spent the morning digging holes for myself. Been getting into bounce trades too soon and having to average down to get out with a profit. Managed it with CXS and CGF. Now watching OSH come good. Keep getting away with it but I can't pretend it's lucrative, lol.

Chengo, my apologies - I missed your post initially this morning. As you can see from the above, I was all over CXS (in at 70 - ouch - then 65) but didn't trade it particularly well. Yes - it certainly fitted the bill for an intraday scalp off the low. Basically I look for shares trading at extremes from their usual trading range. Volatility often settles down as the day progresses and more measured thinking prevails.