Daytrading April 20 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares hit a three-and-a-half-month high this morning before paring gains as US equity futures tracked crude oil lower.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 14 points or 0.3% higher at 5203 after earlier hitting 5233, the index's highest point since the first week of the year. The market gave back much of its gains as crude oil swung lower. West Texas Intermediate crude futures retreated 68 cents or 1.7% this morning to US$40.40 a barrel, dragging the Australian dollar back below 78 US cents. The Aussie was last buying 77.96 US cents after touching 78.26 overnight.

S&P 500 futures were recently down 4.25 points or 0.2%. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.18% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.58%. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.6%.

Metals & mining was the best of the sectors, rising 3.1% as BHP hit its highest point since November. Also strong were materials +2.1%, gold +1.2% and industrials +1.2%. The financials sector was the biggest drag, easing 0.5%

The market has rallied on six out of the last seven sessions on signs that the Chinese economy is turning up and the US Federal Reserve will go slow on rate increases.

“The Fed will likely delay raising rates amid signs of weakness in the US economy,” Angus Nicholson, markets analyst at IG, told Bloomberg. “The weaker [US] dollar is positive for commodities and equities. There’s a real fundamental basis for the rally, particularly in industrial metals, given the stimulus we’re getting out of China."

Gold futures were $1.80 or 0.14% firmer at US$1,256.10 an ounce.


Index looking toppy? About here would be a natural turning point for a retrace. Still, these are extraordinary trading conditions. Really doesn't get much better. Some recent runs suggested things were getting frothy at the speculative end of the market, and there appeared to be confirmation in the final hour sell-offs yesterday in the likes of MXC, TAS and EDE. Trading opportunities again in those today, but there is so much going on you can't get 'em all. My watchlist is the longest in at least six months. Trading: profitable session in the likes of WAF, ARD, EMC and HZR. Still holding JHX.