daytrades nov 29 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares were heading towards an 11-week closing low this morning as a fall in company profits raised growth concerns.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 22 points or 0.5% at 4576 with all sectors except health trading in the red. Hardest hit were utilities -1.5%, gold -1.3% and consumer staples -1.3%.

Gross operating profits of companies fell by a seasonally-adjusted 1.5% last quarter, the ABS revealed today - far short of economists' forecasts for a 4% rise. Business inventories dropped 0.8%. The weak readings are expected to impact on Wednesday's GDP figures.

The dollar fell nearly a cent this morning as investors continued to favour the U.S. dollar as a safe haven, but pared its losses nearing lunchtime. The dollar was recently buying 96.2 U.S. cents.

Spot gold tumbled $8.30 from Friday's close this morning to reach $1,355.90 an ounce. Crude oil futures were unchanged at $83.87 a barrel.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei added 0.3%, Shanghai fell 0.25% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off 0.2%. Dow futures were recently at +23.


A gnarly morning, making for tricky trading. Technically, it doesn't look like the market can go much lower than this without likely going a lot lower. There's a hint of optimism in U.S. futures but they've been a poor guide to the overnight action lately. I've been buying dips, looking to skim a few points on any intraday bounce. In and out of MTS, ADE, NRL and CSD. Still holding FLT, GUD and CRZ.