daytrades march 17 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares advanced this morning as a leading index of economic activity pointed to strong growth this year.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 31 points or 0.65% at 4828 as a broad rally carried all but two sectors higher. However, the market was once again rebuffed by the 4840 resistance level that has held for the last week while Wall Street pushes to 17-month highs.

Sector gains were led this morning by IT +2.3%, gold +1.6% and energy +1.4%. Financials were up 0.7% and mining 1%. Property trusts and consumer staples lost ground.

"We got a good lead from Wall Street, with people inspired by the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) statement," IG Markets institutional dealer Chris Weston told Fairfax. "We did see some upgrades in terms of how they viewed the labour situation there, which was quite positive."

A profit downgrade from AWB saw its shares recently trading more than 10% lower. Shares in David Jones were flat after the company reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance this morning.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index of economic indicators showed annualised growth of 6.3% in January, well above the long-term trend of 2.7%. The index predicts the likely pace of economic activity up to nine months ahead.

Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan said in a statement: "After rising sharply over the second half of 2009, the leading index continues to point to strong momentum carrying into 2010."

A jump in housing starts at the end of last year offered hope to home-buyers squeezed by the national housing shortfall. Home starts spiked 15.1% in the December quarter, up from 9.4% in the September quarter, according to ABS data released this morning.

Asian markets were stronger. Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.66%, Shanghai 0.15% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.76%. Dow futures were recently at -3.

Crude oil futures rallied another 11 cents this morning to $81.91 a barrel. The spot gold price was $1.70 softer at $1,126.70 an ounce.


Just one trade here this morning - took a couple of points out of the OBJ bounce.