Daytrading August 12 afternoon

Thanks Endless and regulars.

Half-time round-up:

The share market has staged its strongest rally since early July as earnings season got into full swing and business conditions and house prices topped expectations.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 54 points or 1% higher at 5512 and on course for its best session since a 79-point surge on July 2. Gains were spread across all sectors, with the best returns coming in the Small Ordinaries +1.3%, industrials +1.3% and health +1.3%.

“It looks like some of the geopolitical concerns are easing,” Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors, told Bloomberg. “Overall, it will be a good day, we should see stabilisation in the equity market and markets should be able to gain some of the lost ground.”

Strong improvements in sales and profitability helped business conditions rally to their strongest level in four years, according to NAB's monthly survey.  The business conditions index improved 6 points to +8 last month as sales rose 7 points to +14 and profitability 7 points to +10.

"Stronger sales and profits are driving the trend, but the recovery continues to be relatively jobless with the employment index seeing more moderate gains," NAB chief economist, Alan Oste told Fairfax.

House prices appreciated more than expected during the second quarter, according to ABS data released this morning. Capital city prices increased by 1.8% in the three months to the end of June, accelerating from a 1.5% rise in the March quarter. Economists had anticipated gains of around 1%.

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite retreated 0.41%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.2% and Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.32%. Dow futures were recently up 21 points or more than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures slipped seven cents this morning to US$97.80 a barrel. Spot gold was $3.50 softer at US$1,306.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 92.58 US cents.


No hesitation on the market this morning, with the economic data at 11.30am offering an excuse for another leg higher. Particularly satisfying to see the XSO among the leaders, similar to the action in the US overnight. However, none of those gains translated into anything in my trading account this morning - been all dressed up and nowhere to go since the opening bell. Had a few near-misses, but generally the volumes have been lacklustre where I wanted to buy and the retreats not deep enough where there was adequate volume. Watching NEN, MEO and PAN among others.