daytrades july 20 afternoon

Endless, sincere thanks for taking on the morning thread - great to have a safe pair of hands at the wheel. Incidentally, if anyone wants to take on the afternoon launch, please shout out - I'm happy to hand it over. No harm in freshening the thread. Like Endless, I think the more voices we hear the better.

Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market has enjoyed its best morning this month as investors toasted a cocktail of bright overnight news from the US.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 72 points or 1.6% at 4540, with all sectors except gold improving. The last time the index performed this well was on June 30, when it tacked on 78.5 points. The morning's best-performing sectors were IT +2.8%, financials +1.9% and consumer discretionary +1.9%. The blue chips outperformed small caps after several days of trailing, with the S&P/ASX 20 ahead 1.5%, compared to a 1.4% gain for the Small Ordinaries.

"Everything went right [overnight in the US]," IG Markets analyst Ben Potter told Fairfax. "The US debt concerns eased a bit after some positive comments from President Obama, and we saw quite a few very strong financial reports. Plus, there was some strong economic data."

US futures lifted this morning following gains on Asian markets and a well-received profit report from Apple. Dow futures were recently up 22 points or 0.2%. Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.34% this morning, Shanghai 0.16% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.23%.

Local share gains came despite news that economic growth is slowing to post-GFC levels. The WBC/MI Leading Index, which predicts economic activity three to nine months ahead, fell to 1.6% in May - nearly half the long-term trend of 3%. It was the weakest reading since September 2009 when the global economy was suffering a hangover from the GFC.

Crude oil futures rallied 24 cents this morning to US $98.30 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.90 stronger at US $1,590.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying US $1.0729.


A strong morning with not a hint of a pullback. Well done to those with the courage to build positions during the recent pullback who are now reaping the benefits. This morning I wanted shares completing basing patterns that looked ready to rally. Chose CSR and QAN. One win out of two is okay but could have been better. Should have realised JHX would run on the US housing news. Also been in and out of MDA for brokerage - heavy seller operating there.