daytrades nov 4 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market marked a new six-month high this morning as a big gain for BHP off-set losses among financial stocks.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 23 points or 0.5% at 4746, led by a 2.5% rise in BHP after its bid for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan was blocked by the Canadian government.

The Canadian government decision "was a bit of a surprise and wrong-footed a lot of people," Pengana Capital portfolio manager Tim Schroeders told Fairfax. "We're seeing good strength in that share price. BHP not spending all that money on Potash, should the deal get knocked on the head in 30 days time, will increase the probability of a capital return or share buyback, and people like that possibility."

The financial sector was the main drag on the market, down 0.5% as ANZ traded without its dividend. Retail shares were mixed after September sales numbers improved less than analysts expected. The 0.3% rise for the month was below projections for a 0.5% gain. In other economic news, the trade balance narrowed to a surplus of $1.76 billion in September as exports reduced.

Asian markets advanced. Japan's Nikkei rallied 2.23% as it played catch-up after yesterday's public holiday, Shanghai was up 0.95% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.96%. Dow futures were recently at -1.

Crude oil futures inched 14 cents higher this morning to $85.19 a barrel. Spot gold took off in the last half-hour, rising $6.70 to $1,355.30 an ounce. The dollar was holding above $US1, recently buying 1.0044 U.S. cents.


A pretty muted response here to the Fed stimulus package. BHP is stronger for entirely unrelated reasons - subtract it and there wouldn't be much to show for the session. Just two trades completed here so far: caught the initial run in CZA and traded the bounce in FAR.