daytrade diaries... october 9 part 2

Half-time round-up:

Stocks drifted lower this morning as investors sold off defensive sectors in a sign of increasing appetite for risk.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 16 points or 0.34% lower at 4752 after briefly touching a new 2009 high of 4803 in early trade. Selling in defensive sectors such as health (-2%), telecoms (-1.5%) and utilities (-0.4%) offset gains in gold, +1.1%, small ordinaries +0.8% and industrials 0.6%.

In economic news, Treasury Secretary Ken Henry this morning warned against scrapping the Federal Government's stimulus efforts. Mr Henry said a premature end to the stimulus could cost another 100,000 jobs.

Asian markets inched higher. The Nikkei put on 0.98% and Singapore 0.04%. Dow futures were neutral at -6. Gold and oil were little changed.

A mildly profitable morning here. Bounce in SRL and scalps on PRR and QBE partly offset by a small loss on CSL after a premature entry. Spewing about missing DDT after trading it every other day this week. Nearly bought at 5.1 - looked away and by the time I looked again it was in the 6s. Well done to those who caught it.