daytrades april 12 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Regional markets slumped this morning and US futures retreated following a disappointing profit result from Alcoa and a fire at a Japanese nuclear plant.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 53 points or 1.1% at 4917 and on track for its biggest one-day loss in nearly a month. All sectors were trading lower but resource stocks were hit hardest after overnight falls in commodity prices. Gold stocks dropped 3%, energy 2.4% and metals & mining 1.9%. Small caps suffered more than blue chips, falling 1.5% as compared to a fall of just 0.9% for the ASX 20.

"We expect to see the market go through a consolidation having had such a strong run, before moving higher again," Martin Lakos, division director at Macquarie Private Wealth, told Fairfax. "The modest revision by the IMF on global growth is having a small impact, and oil and gold are coming off."

Asian markets fell away as Japan was rocked by two aftershocks and a small fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The Nikkei slumped 1.6% in morning trade, Shanghai lost 0.22% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.42%.

Dow futures were recently off 72 points or 0.58% after Alcoa launched the Q1 profit season this morning with a result that missing analyst's expectations. Shares in Alcoa fell 3.15% in after-market trade.

In economic news, business conditions improved last month as the effects of the Queensland and Victorian floods began to wear off. A NAB index jumped 11 points to 9 points above the zero level that marks expansion.

"The overall business conditions index is now at its highest level since March 2010," NAB said in a statement quoted on Fairfax. "Conditions in Queensland improved significantly in the month but are still very poor."

Crude oil futures fell another 57 cents this morning to $108.21 a barrel. Spot gold was $6.60 down at $1,457.40 an ounce. The dollar was around half a cent weaker, buying US $1.0449.


A pullback was overdue but that doesn't make it any more fun when it arrives, lol. These long downward spirals make for tough trading and I need several turn-arounds to avoid a rare losing day. Began buying HST and ALL too early, although the latter is slowly coming good. Also added BLD, HAW and ADY. Had wins earlier in EOC and PRR. Busy day.