Daytrading August 10 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Downbeat US equity futures and a lacklustre morning in Asia helped drive Australian shares lower for the first time in five sessions.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 22 points or 0.4% weaker at 5530 with defensive sectors leading the way as a mixed corporate reporting season rumbled on. Utilities declined 1.6%, consumer discretionary 1% and telecoms 1.1%. Poorly-received earnings updates from AGL, FXJ, SKC and CBA accounted for much of the weakness. A near-7% surge in CPU helped the IT sector buck the trend with a rise of nearly 3%.

Trading ranges have tightened over the last month as the ASX 200  churned through resistance at 5400 to a 12-month high.

"It's a slow grind in markets at present, which will please many in the investment community but frustrate the day traders out there," IG analysts Chris Weston told Fairfax. "We question what is going to cause a sharp increase in market volatility."

Dow futures were recently off 12 points or 0.06%. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.15% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.53%. Japan's Nikkei was off 0.29%.

Crude oil futures eased seven cents or 0.16% this morning to US$42.70 a barrel. Gold futures were $7.70 or 0.57% firmer at US$1,354.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.96 US cents.


Must... ignore... Olympics... and... make... living... Focus has been better today, or perhaps there were more of the sort of opportunities I chase. Couple of pips from POS. Still holding ICQ - hoping day 3 will be the reversal day - and RFX.