daytrades march 23 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Strength in the big banks and miners saw the Australian stock market reverse yesterday's losses this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 36 points or 0.75% stronger at 4866. Healthy gains for cyclical stocks outweighed modest losses in several defensive sectors, suggesting an up-tick in the appetite for risk. Financial shares climbed 1.3%, energy 1.2% and metals & mining 1%. Health, telecoms, gold and consumer staples were among the losers.

Shares in Westpac climbed nearly 1% despite the bank being slammed by Treasurer Wayne Swan as a "serial offender" after reports that it will charge additional interest on its credit cards. From June, interest will apply on charges and fees on WBC credit card accounts, according to Fairfax.

"This kind of behaviour by Westpac is exactly why people dont like the big banks," Mr Swan said this morning. "Unfortunately, this bank seems like it's becoming a serial offender when it comes to taking its customers for a ride."

Shares in Chemgenex more than halved at the opening bell on news that the US Food and Drug Administration has delayed approval of its cancer drug Omapro. The stock hit a low of 26.5 cents before recovering to trade recently at 37 cents after the FDA voted for further tests.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.25% as it played catch-up after yesterday's public holiday, Shanghai shed 0.15% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.66%. Dow futures were recently at -2.

Gold trimmed its overnight losses. The spot gold price climbed $3.70 this morning to trade recently at $1,104 an ounce. Crude oil futures kicked 30 cents higher to $81.63 a barrel.


A reasonable morning here but could have been better with some nads. Took CXS at the open but bailed waaaay too soon, only to watch it do pretty much what I thought it would. Kudos to all those here who showed more ticker. Exited IPL from yesterday for a fair profit. Also caught a nice bounce in MSC.