daytrade diaries... june 23 part 2

Half-time report:

Australian shares tumbled this morning as regional markets were swept up in a global pullback.

At lunchtime, the ASX 200 was down 121 points or 3.1% at 3796 after a glum night on European and US markets. Falls were heaviest in metals & mining (-4.5%), gold (-4.8%), materials (-4.3%) and energy (-4.1%). Defensive sectors fared better but were also firmly in the red.

The Nikkei in Japan fell 3.09% and the Hang Seng lost 3.5%. Dow futures were recently -3. Gold just plummeted more than $6 to $915.40. A minor rally in oil rolled over to a loss of 50 cents from this morning's price, recently at $66.43.

Today was never going to be easy, and so it has proved. Three small profits taken in ABY (opened at support), MLI (looked oversold intraday at 41) and FMG (a barely-worth-it scalp). Got into MMX too early - may have to take a small loss. Had my eye on it for a few days but not game to hold overnight in these conditions. Had other buy orders in the market but missed by fractions. Particularly regret missing PAN, which recently has the nice habit of always finishing higher than it opens.

Be on guard for another leg down this arvo. Wouldn't surprise to see the market close down 4%.