daytrading april 17 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Strength in the big banks helped Australian shares overcome another soft morning for resource stocks as most regional markets rebounded from three days of falls.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead 45 points or 0.9% at 4996, led by rises in financials +1.1%, industrials +1.2% and defensive sectors. The metals & mining sector slipped 0.4%, energy 0.4%, materials 0.3% and gold 0.1%.

Most Asian markets ticked higher despite a mild decline in US futures following a poorly-received after-market earnings report from Yahoo! Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up 0.12% and Japan's Nikkei put on 1.01%. Shanghai dipped 0.14%. Dow futures were recently down 19 points or more than 0.1%.

Spot gold continued to recover this morning, rising $6.80 to US$1,380.80 an ounce. Crude oil futures eased five cents to US$88.84 a barrel. The dollar was buying $US1.0366.


If yesterday was a day of plenty, the pickings seemed pretty lean this morning. The spec end is rattled by recent events and will likely need a few positive sessions for confidence to return. Gold stocks were a sell at the open. The XGD is now down 0.3%. After making a good week's wage yesterday, my aim today was to sit on my hands unless clear opportunities emerged. My hands have hardly moved since. Squeezed half a day's wage out of SBM. Took MND near $20. Wanted ASL a little lower, so missed the boat. Subsistence session.