daytrades september 1 afternoon

Afternoon all, this is the start of the afternoon thread. Best wishes to Highland Lad and wife and family. Get well soon to Tweets.

A lot of smoke but not much fire on the markets for me today. Had my sell orders just a bit too high. Hoping for some afternoon action. Rushing here, was caught in shopping centre carpark for last half hour.

Happy Trades
Endless


LUNCHTIME REPORT Courtesy of Commsec

The Australian share market has kicked off September and the new season with a spring in its step, despite a fairly flat lead from Wall Street. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 67.2pts or 1.5pct to 4506.

Economic growth figures released today show the Australian economy grew by 1.2pct in the June quarter, and 3.3pct annually. The result further solidifies our view that Australia continues to remain resilient in the face of global concerns.

Financial stocks are recording solid gains, with both Westpac (WBC) and the NAB (NAB) firmer by 2.2pct at lunchtime in the East. WBC is trading at $22.20 while NAB shares are worth $23.74.

Material stocks have ignored generally weaker commodity prices, with BHP Billiton (BHP) firmer by 2.1pct to $37.83 and Rio Tinto (RIO) up 2.6pct to $71.91.

In the energy sector, shares in Caltex (CTX) are down 1.5pct to $11.07 as the petroleum distributor pays out a dividend to shareholders. The rest of the sector is performing well, despite crude oil easing during New York trade on fears Hurricane Earl will crimp demand for gasoline.

Telstra (TLS) shares are up 1.1pct to $2.78.

In economic data today, the Performance of Manufacturing index fell by 2.7 points in August to a five-month low of 51.7.

The Australian dollar has jumped on the strong GDP numbers and at 11.45am is buying US89.64c, ?0.5837 and ?70.67c.

Juliette Saly
CommSec Market Analyst