Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:Shares collapsed to fresh...

Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:

Shares collapsed to fresh two-year lows this morning in panic selling fuelled by margin calls and heavy falls on Asian bourses and US futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 152 points or 3.8% at 3834 after falling as low as 3765 in the first hour of trade. There was red across the boards, with the Small Ordinaries -5.8%, IT -5.4% and the energy sector -5.1% topping the casualty list. Not even the gold sector was spared, falling 1.6% despite a new record high for the precious metal this morning.

"You have to remember, [2008-09] was not so long ago, so it is very clear in people's minds what happened then and they don't want to get caught out," Macquarie Private Wealth associate director Lucinda Chan told Fairfax. "Margin calls are pretty heavy in this market, as well."

Asian markets were savaged, with the Hong Kong and Korean benchmark indexes both falling more than 7%. Japan's Nikkei dropped 4.43%, Shanghai 2.21%, the Hang Seng 7.3% and Korea's Kospi 7.8%. Dow futures were recently off 263 points or 2.45%.

"This is fear and panic," Don Wordell, a fund manager for RidgeWorth Capital Management, told Fairfax. "I don't feel like the economy is falling off as quick as the stock market is."

The Australian dollar broke parity this morning before a minor recovery as a flight to safety gathered pace. The Aussie fell more than 3 US cents to trade recently at US$1.0026 from $US1.036 last night.

The rout in commodities continued, with oil tumbling another $4 this morning. Crude futures have fallen another $4.40 since 7.15 am AEST to US$76.41 a barrel.

Gold continued to push into record territory. Spot gold was $20 stronger at US$1,741.30 an ounce.

Chinese economic data released this morning came in broadly in line with expectations. A 0.1% up-tick in consumer inflation kept the pressure on the central bank to maintain recent tightening.


Not a morning for the faint-hearted. Shocking to see how many shares have broken their GFC lows. Looks to me like we're entering the irrational phase of this pullback, where so much gloom has been factored in that things will have to get much worse to justify some of these share prices. I'm sure some of those with a longer perspective must be starting to dip their toes. It's a volatility trader's paradise and today I've been in and out of AAX, AGO, DOW, MTE, HZN, IVC, NTU, TEN and SWM. Got into FMG, WOR, NUF and PRY too early but I'm now close to break-even in all.