Daytrading April 21 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A third day of gains pushed the ASX to a 15-week high as resource stocks responded to overnight milestones in crude oil and iron ore.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 55 points or 1% ahead at 5271 after earlier touching the highest point since January 4. Energy stocks led the rally, rising 4.7% after West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at a 2016 high overnight. The metals & mining sector advanced 2.4% as iron ore marked a 10-month peak. The materials sector rose 1.8%, IT 1.5% and financials 1.2%. Gold was the only sector to retreat, falling 2.3%.

“Investors’ appetite for risk assets has been renewed,” Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust, told Bloomberg. “China’s efforts to stabilise its economy have begun to show positive effects and the Federal Reserve appears to be taking a more realistic outlook of the challenges it faces in normalising rates.”

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite drifted 0.13% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.34% and Japan's Nikkei added 1.92%. Dow futures were recently four points or 0.02% stronger.

Crude oil futures edged up 11 cents this morning to US$42.74 a barrel. Gold futures were $4.90 or 0.4% softer at US$1,249.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 78 US cents.


If this rally in resources runs any further we can expect a wave of tech companies converting back to explorers. Give it another year? It's all cyclical. Trading: volatility remains elevated - hooray for that. GXY gave a lovely bounce. Also took AGY, a slower burn.