daytrades july 13 afternoon

Good afternoon punters. Having a pretty good day. I've got buys/sells in 13 stocks which is too many. Took profits in ELD and SSNO. V unhappy to miss AAR as it is top of my possibles watchlist, arrgh! Some very good calls today from the stands (ANP, DYL, AKK etc). Excellent work team. :>

I am still an amateur at this game and not a good organiser. I had to remind myself of a few golden rules today.

Be prepared well before the open. Sort your watchlist and keep it up to date - everyday. Don't rush it.
Don't have too many stocks on your watchlist, you'll just miss things. Following trades on 3 stocks is about my limit.
Good annc + volume means pay attention. Espc with popular stocks.
Be wary of stocks running on no news.
Have your day's trading plan clear in your mind.

Good trading everyone

MIDDAY REPORT
Courtesy of Commsec

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the 2nd day this week with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) flat at lunch. The miners have not been able to rise in early trade after North America?s largest aluminium producer, Alcoa (AA) exceeded earnings forecasts for the June quarter.

The miners are the biggest drag on the market with both RIO Tinto (RIO) and the larger BHP Billiton (BHP) falling by more than 1.5pct. Commodity prices fell in overnight trade and several of our major miners are coming out with the June quarterly updates over the next few weeks. RIO is the worst performer of the big two, down 2.43pct or $1.67 to $67.10 whilst BHP is 1.71pct or 66cents weaker to $37.95.

The financials however are keeping things balanced with our four big banks up between 0.75pct to 1.5pct.

Some of Australia?s largest retailers are mostly stronger today with department store owners David Jones (DJS) and its competitor, Myer (MYR) both up around 0.25pct.

Defensives such as supermarket chain, Woolworths (WOW) is up 0.48pct or 13cents to $27.12 whilst Wesfarmers (WES), the owner of Bunnings, Coles, Target and Kmart is off 0.81pct or 23cents to $28.26.

On the economic front, business confidence and lending finance numbers were released today. Business confidence came in largely flat after the large falls experienced last month. Personal finance issued in Australia over the month of May rose by 0.1pct to $6.79 billion. More information will be released in the market close report this afternoon.

In the region, most major Asian markets are up by around 0.25pct

The Australian dollar (AUD) is slightly weaker at US87.45c.

Steven Daghlian
Market Analyst