daytrades august 12 afternoon

Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:

Cautious optimism prevailed this morning as stability returned to regional markets at the end of a volatile week.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 54 points or 1.3% at 4195 after earlier hitting its highest level of the week. All sectors were in positive territory, with the biggest rises coming in health +2.7%, IT +2.6% and industrials +1.9%.

Asian markets advanced but the gains were restrained compared to the wild swings in the first half of the week. Japan's Nikkei inched up 0.17%, Shanghai 0.81% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.46%.

"It's a bungee cord market," the chief market strategist at DA Davidson & Co in the US told Reuters. "We've fallen off a small bridge, the bungee cord bounced us up, and oscillations will diminish, but we're stil bouncing around."

US futures pulled back following last night's 423-point Dow surge. Dow futures were recently off 59 points or 0.4%.

Market regulators around the globe stepped in after the most turbulent two weeks on world markets since the GFC. France, Italy, Spain and Belgium this morning announced bans on short selling to commence tonight, while at home, ASIC unveiled new disclosure requirements for CFD providers to improve investor risk awareness.

Crude oil futures eased 53 cents this morning to US$84.94 a barrel. Spot gold was $8.40 weaker at US$1,759.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0329.


Not the most exciting morning of the month but it does herald a return to more normal trading conditions. I guess that's a good thing. I work better with volatility, so there wasn't much around to catch the eye this morning. The dip in NDO offered a few points and I offloaded a little AUN as its rebound continued.