Daytrading April 29 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares edged towards a third straight weekly rise as gold miners surged to a three-year high.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 29 points or 0.6% ahead at 5254, 18 points up from last week's closing level of 5236. The gold sector was the session's star performer, jumping 3.8% to its strongest level since April 2013. Other outperformers included energy +1.4%, health +0.9% and metals & mining +0.6%.

This morning's rally came despite falls in the US overnight after the Bank of Japan surprised investors yesterday by leaving its stimulus package untouched.

“Central banks look like they have run out of bullets to a degree,” Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners, told Bloomberg. “We’re getting to that point where there are limits to the results they can get from anything more they do. This points to a fragile outlook with still a lot of risks out there.”

China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.24%. Japan's Nikkei, which tanked 3.58% yesterday, was closed today for a public holiday. Dow futures were recently up one point or 0.01%.

Crude oil futures dropped 16 cents or 0.35% this morning to US$45.87 a barrel. Gold futures were $14.10 or 1.1% firmer at US$1,280.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.46 US cents.


Fizzer of a week for investors. Distribution phase or a pause before we move higher? The recent trend points to the former, but I'd be happy to be surprised. Feels like we've been wallowing around these levels for an eternity. Trading: snatched a profit from POH and took SYA at the low.