daytrades may 4 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market slumped to a five-week low this morning as US futures and regional markets deteriorated.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 45 points or 0.95% at 4739 after earlier touching the index's lowest level since late March. Defensive sectors, including telecoms +0.4% and utilities +0.5%, accounted for most of the handful of sectors to trade positive.

A 38% increase in Westpac's first-half profit failed to lift the financial sector, recently down 1.2%. Shares in Westpac fell 2%. Gold shares recorded the largest fall, down 1.8%.

"We're certainly continuing to see a bit of capitulation on this market," Helen Spencer, adviser with Macquarie Private Wealth, told Fairfax. "We're seeing ongoing weakness right across the board despite some, over the past week, positive data from offshore. It seems the stronger currency has really taken the wind out of the sails of our market."

US futures retreated as Asian markets pulled back. Shanghai was recently off 0.76% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 1.17%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday. Dow futures were recently at -42.

The Australian services sector rebounded last month following five months of contraction. The AIG/CBA Performance of Services Index improved 5 points to 51.1 in April, above the 50-point level that separates contraction from expansion.

The dollar continued its overnight decline, recently buying US $1.0818. Crude oil futures retreated 31 cents this morning to US $110.57 a barrel. Spot gold was $5.10 weaker at US $1,532 an ounce. Spot silver eased another 29 cents to US $41.12 an ounce.


Another busy morning at the coalface. At least the dollar seems to be losing ground - that may eventually help improve sentiment towards the local market. Scalped ORD and CVN early on and had a trade in JPR that went nowhere - lots of off-screen selling there. Trade in ROC hasn't gone far. Also had a small dabble in KDR.