daytrade diaries... june 4 part 2

Half-time round-up:

Australian stocks retreated this morning following a weak night on Wall Street, a slump in commodity prices and an unexpected trade deficit.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 57 points or 1.4% at 3960, led lower by falls in the big miners. The dollar fell after April figures showed the nation's trade balance in deficit for the first time in a year. (This contrasts with evidence yesterday that trade in the first quarter kept the country out of recession - go figure.)

Asian markets were weaker. The Nikkei lost 0.27% in morning trade and the Hang Seng was recently down 1%. Dow futures were +11. Gold recovered some of its overnight losses, recently trading at $968.10.

A reasonable morning at this trading desk. Successful bounce trades in AAX and PDN although both sold too early. Break-even trade in TOL. BGD looks like the pick of the bunch - happy to hold for now.