daytrade diaries... july 7 part 2

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares were lower this morning for a third straight day as weakness in resource stocks outweighed strength in defensives.

At lunchtime, the ASX 200 was down 13 points or 0.35% at 3770 as the developing theme for the last few weeks again played out. Leading the gains were utilities (+2.5%), telecoms (1.2%), health (0.5%) and consumer staples (0.5%). Holding the market back were losses in property trusts (-1.8%), gold (-1.4%) and energy (-1.3%)

Asian markets were mixed, with the Nikkei off 0.22% and the Hang Seng up 0.41%. Dow futures were recently at -15. Oil futures were flat and gold was down 90 cents from early this morning at $923.80.

A forgettable morning's work here. Small profits in TSE from late yesterday and APA as a dull but safe defensive play. Nursing paper losses on badly-executed bounce trades in PLA and CXS. (Memo To Self: these work better if the shares actually bounce.)

Hope the rest of the crew here are faring better.