daytrade diaries... january 25 part 2

Half-time round-up:

Bullish U.S. futures and recovering resource prices helped the Australian share market trim early losses this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 47 points or 1% at 4703 but well above today's new 2010 low of 4680 set in early trade. Financial shares were the main drag on the market, down 1.6% as they continued to pay for the sins of their American counterparts. The defensive telecoms sector was the only sector to reach positive territory, up 0.7%.

Local sentiment was helped by a rally in U.S. futures, hinting at some respite after last week's heavy selling. Dow futures were recently 39 points higher.

Also supportive were bounces in oil and gold this morning. Crude oil futures rallied 40 cents to $74.49 a barrel and the spot gold price was recently up $5.10 at $1,196.90 an ounce.

In economic news, a surprise drop in producer prices last quarter has removed some of the pressure for an interest rate rise next week. Investors will now watch Wednesday's consumer price index data for confirmation.

Asian markets remained in a downtrend. Japan's Nikkei was recently off 1.15%, Shanghai 0.4% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.34%.


Selective bounce trading paid off this morning. Rode the recoveries in MGX, MMX, NWH, SXL, SFR and HST. Too quick to take profits once again but still a good start to the week. Hope you all turned a quid this morning. Definite signs that our market wants to bounce from here.