Daytrading April 15 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew. This wrap is brought to you by Chrome while Firefox goes and takes a bloody good look at itself.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares reached the halfway mark within reach of a fourth straight advance and their first winning week in a month following unexpectedly strong Chinese economic data.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 22 points or 0.4% ahead at 5141 after earlier dipping as low as 5112 as resource stocks eased at the end of a strong week. The index hit its peak following the noon release of Chinese data showing industrial production strengthened last month. Fixed asset investments and retail sales also beat expectations and Q1 GDP came in bang on target at 6.7% year on year.

"The economy has stabilized thanks to a flood of liquidity and improved sentiment in the property market," Tao Dong, head of Asia economics excluding Japan at Credit Suisse Group in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg. "It is not clear whether the momentum is sustainable. So far, the government seems to be the solo singer. It is critical to re-engage private investment."

The morning's best gains came in IT +1.6%, utilities +1.3% and consumer staples +1.3%. The gold sector retreated 0.8%, metals & mining 0.6% and materials 0.5%.

Asian markets were mixed but little changed. China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.07%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.06% and Japan's dipped Nikkei 0.34%. Dow futures were recently ahead four points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures rallied 16 cents or 0.4% this morning to US$41.66 a barrel. Gold futures were $3.50 or 0.3% stronger at US$1,230 an ounce. The dollar was buying 77.2 US cents.


Strong week on the index. Back near the top of the downtrend line. Whether or not it takes a look at 5200 will likely be dictated by the oil tzars gathering this weekend in Doha. Gulp. Trading: low-key end to the week after some fireworks through the first half. Made something on CDC for a second day. First dab at NOR.