daytrading april 9 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares have enjoyed their best morning in more than three weeks after tame Chinese inflation boosted Asian markets and Alcoa's profit report lifted US futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 63 points or 1.3% stronger at 4968 with the big banks and miners leading the charge. The materials sector jumped 1.9%, financials 1.5%, gold 1.6% and energy 1.5%.

The index extended its gains as Asian markets welcomed a drop in Chinese inflation that left policy-markets plenty of room to maneuver. The consumer price index cooled to 2.1% from growth of 3.2% in February. The producer price index dropped 1.9%. The Shanghai Composite rallied 0.92%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.18% and Japan's Nikkei 0.56%.

US futures were cautiously positive after aluminium producer Alcoa launched the Q1 quarterly earnings season this morning with a 59% increase in profits. S&P Emini futures were recently up three points or 0.2%.

The Australian market shrugged off news of the weakest business conditions in almost four years. NAB's monthly business survey had business conditions falling to -7 last month from -3 in February, the worst reading since May 2009. Business confidence ticked up to +2 from +1 the previous month.

Crude oil futures eased four cents this morning to US$93.52 a barrel. Spot gold was 80 cents firmer at US$1,573.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0434.


Definite change of market tone this morning. The XJO is wearing rocket boots. Small caps always lag at these turning points (if that is what this is) and will likely need a few more positive days before the big runs start. By comparison, the XSO is up just 0.5% so far today. I planned to take a day off trading to get over the flu. Then I saw SDL and the juices started flowing. Didn't trade it particularly well, but there was enough range for "mediocre" to be rewarding. Took the hit on DTE from last week - will look to re-enter on any significant retrace.