daytrading april 27 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares rolled over this morning as US futures signalled concern about a credit downgrade for Spain and most Asian markets retreated.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was six points or 0.15% weaker at 4368 after earlier running as high as 4386. Gains in a handful of defensive sectors were swamped by falls among resource stocks and industrials. Financials were flat. The consumer discretionary sector fell 0.1% after a profit warning from JBH.

"We didn't manage to maintain the positive momentum that we saw in US markets, on the back of that S&P downgrade for Spain," IG Markets market strategist Stan Shamu told Fairfax. "That has been fairly negative for risk sentiment."

US futures deteriorated after Standard & Poor's cut Spain's sovereign credit rating to BBB+ from A with a negative outlook after the close of business on Wall Street this morning. The agency said there were increased risks with the national debt burden as the economy contracted. Dow futures were recently off 40 points or 0.3%.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei slid 0.11%, Shanghai lost 0.28% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 0.31%.

Crude oil futures eased eight cents this morning to US$104.09 a barrel. Spot gold was 80 cents softer at US$1,656.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.038.


I confess to underestimating the impact of this morning's downgrade - apparently the market still cares about S&P slamming gates after bolting horses. All the same, it would have been a reasonable morning at this trading desk if I could get my buy orders fully filled. One out of four is pitiful. I'm going to have to ask the rest of you to wait your turn in future. Two part-fills in AVQ for half a wage and a part-fill in AJQ at the low for peanuts. Only full fill so far is MNC at support and of course that's the one that hasn't moved.