daytrading april 2 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares marked a new four-and-a-half month high this morning before paring gains as the big banks lost ground and reports showed declined in building approvals and manufacturing.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead six points or 0.14% at 4341 after earlier reaching its highest point since mid-November at 4377. The gains were led by resource sectors after yesterday's unexpectedly strong Chinese manufacturing report. The metals & mining sector rallied 1.6%, materials 1.4%, gold 0.9% and energy 0.9%. Financials, industrials and a handful of defensive sectors retreated.

"The big driver of our market has been the Chinese PMI released over the weekend," IG Markets analyst Cameron Peacock told Fairfax. "It was well-received by the market and that's a good reason why risk assets are performing well."

The market peaked in the first hour of trade, with profit-taking accelerated after a sharp decline in February building approvals. Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed approvals were 7.8% weaker than January and 15.2% down for the year. The report contrasted with a 0.2% rise in house prices in March for a second straight monthly improvement.

The Reserve Bank was given food for thought ahead of tomorrow's cash rate decision as data this morning showed inflation at its lowest rate since October 2009. The TDS–MI monthly inflation gauge eased from 2% in the year to February to 1.8% last month - below the 2-3% band favoured by the RBA. Another report showed manufacturing activity contracted in March.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.79% but Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.6%. Shanghai was closed for a public holiday. Dow futures were recently up 30 points or 0.2%.

Spot gold eased $1.70 this morning to US$1,669 an ounce. Crude oil futures were unchanged at US$102.93 a barrel. The dollar was buying US$1.0405.


Not a huge surprise to see some of the initial exuberance wear off this morning as the instos take profits after a strong quarter and with a long weekend looming. Plenty of pullbacks this morning offering rebound opps. I had nice wins in HDF and OBL. Still holding QAN, CGF and PLA. Burnett, MBN looks promising this morning - I'm trigger-shy after Friday's action but may get on-board if it holds its gains to the close.