The big miners steered the Australian market higher this morning but regional markets were uneven ahead of the latest Chinese economic update.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 23 points or 0.5% at 4647 as all sectors except utilities rallied.
The dollar rebounded from yesterday's heavy fall, opening one U.S. cent higher this morning on speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon stimulate the economy. The dollar was recently buying 98.39 U.S. cents.
Asian markets were mixed before the 1pm release of monthly economic reports in China. Japan's Nikkei overcame early weakness to trade 0.4% ahead but Shanghai was off 0.25% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.77%. Dow futures were recently at +1.
Crude oil futures eased 17 cents this morning to $82.25 a barrel. The spot gold price slipped $1.50 to $1,342.60 an ounce.
Well I may as well have driven a clown car to the trading desk this morning. My trading account is in greatest peril when I've had a good run, get over-confident and start punting instead of waiting for clear trading opportunities. Muddled thinking and/or impatience got me into KCN, SGM, PLV and APA too early this morning. Been stopped out of one and currently underwater on the other three. Not too much damage done thanks to a strong run earlier this week but zero from four is poor trading by any measure, lol.
