daytrades august 3 afternoon

Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares plumbed new lows for the year as key regional markets tumbled and weak domestic retail sales added to the gloom.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 90 points or 2% at 4343 after earlier hitting an 11-month low at 4326. Cyclical stocks took the biggest hits as concerns mounted overnight about the outlook for the global economy. Financials fell 2.2%, materials 2.3% and industrials 2.2%. Gold +1.6% was the only sector to advance after the precious metal hit a new record overnight.

Domestic economic news added to the gloom, with retail sales dipping in June and exports stalling. Retail sales eased 0.1%, against economists' predictions of a rise of 0.4%. The trade balance narrowed, with exports unchanged in adjusted terms and imports rising.

"The Australian economy is in a pretty ordinary place," IG Markets strategist Ben Potter told Fairfax. "It looks good compared to the rest of the world but the east coast is very close to recession, if it's not in recession. Consumer confidence is down, house prices are going down, retailers are hurting, savings rates are at very high levels."

The dollar continued its overnight slide following this morning's economic data. The Aussie was recently buying US$1.0721, down another two-thirds of a cent.

Key Asian markets fell this morning. Japan's Nikkei lost 2.21% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.76%. Only Shanghai seemed unconcerned, with the major index up 0.27%. Dow futures were recently at -6.

Crude oil futures rallied 16 cents this morning to US$93.36 a barrel. Spot gold was $9.10 weaker at US$1,654.20 an ounce.


Rough old morning but the index is oversold and near fairly significant support. I'm tempted to hold something overnight because I suspect anything less than a disastrous private jobs figure in the US might be enough to start a bounce. Tempted but undecided. Session began well at this trading desk with successful bounces in BND, KAR and EGO. So far, so good. However, buys in FXJ, AMC, LNC, BLD and BSL (cough!) have yet to deliver. Bought cheap enough to avoid major damage but missed too many exit opportunities to consider the morning a success. Been too greedy/optimistic for the conditions. (BSL is very susceptible to currency movements, so my thinking is that the falling dollar may eventually tempt buyers. So far the sp says otherwise.)