daytrades march 1 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares were modestly lower at lunchtime after signs of slowing growth in Chinese manufacturing offset a jump in local retail sales.

At 1 pm the ASX 200 was down 2 points or 0.05% at 4829 as the big miners rallied for a third day. Energy, health and financial shares were the main drags on the market.

An early rally faded during a morning that delivered a larger-than-expected current account deficit, rising retail sales and a modest slowdown in the rate of expansion in Chinese manufacturing. The official Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers' index eased from 52.9 in January to 52.2 last month, in line with expectations. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

Retail sales increased by 0.4% in January, ahead of economists' expectations, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released this morning.

"Low unemployment and steady interest rates likely prompted higher [retail] spending in the month," Moody's Economy.com said in a quote on Fairfax.

Most Asian markets moved higher this morning. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.64% and Shanghai 0.15% but Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off 0.09% in early trade. Dow futures were recently at +17.

Crude oil futures edged 19 cents higher this morning to $97 a barrel. Spot gold was 80 cents weaker at $1,411.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying US $1.0189.


Well, at least the market is trading. I was one of many caught with unwanted overnight holds and spent some of the morning easing out. FNT delivered a profit, NCR a loss and IFN, well, it took some nifty footwork during this morning's capitulation but I got a third away at break-even and am much happier with where it is now. Also rode EQN from the low and added MYX and RNI recently. Missed EGO by a point, dammit.