Daytrading August 22 afternoon

A final thank you to the much-esteemed Endless. More below.

Half-time round-up:

Shares are within reach of a seventh straight advance supported by solid corporate earnings, gains in Asia and a record close on Wall Street this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 16 points or 0.3% ahead at 5655 as gains in the big banks, industrials and defensive sectors outweighed weakness in resource stocks. Industrials +1% topped the sector gains, followed by energy +0.7% and IT +0.5%. A slew of corporate profit reports included winners in QUB, ILU, FDC, MRM, STO, NEA, IFM and FAN. Less well received were reports from SPK. MXI, BGL, PPG and BFG.

The gains followed a fourth straight rise on Wall Street overnight following another round of upbeat economic data.

“Data was solid,” Evan Lucas, strategist at IG, told Bloomberg. “US home sales smashed estimates and held true month-on-month, while the Philly Fed manufacturing index also was stronger than estimated. This all gave the market another reason to continue to leg up.”

China's Shanghai Composite dipped 0.03%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng put on 0.48% and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.08%. Dow futures were recently up 12 points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures eased five cents this morning to US$93.85 a barrel. Spot gold firmed $1.40 to US$1,278.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 93.16 US cents.


It is now my sad duty to present one of this forum's longest-serving members with the Golden Doughnut traditionally awarded to those retiring from duty. He has been one of the stalwarts of the day trading threads for at least four years, so it was a grave disappointment to learn that Endless is finite. Talk about false advertising. He has served with distinction and unfailing good humour despite the occasional barb from those who would have you believe he is a pipe-smoking, slipper-wearing fossil who should have been pensioned off years ago. Nonsense. Before you cast a stone, consider that you're dissing someone who can afford to ski in Aspen every other weekend. He must be doing something right. In my opinion, Endless is one of the wittiest and wisest heads on these threads. He makes me laugh more than any other poster. Often deliberately. The threads need old pros who have seen it all before and greet each rally with a wry smile. You don't win friends on HC by questioning share valuations, but it's an important counter-balance to the irrational exuberance that sometimes grips the market and its participants. Otherwise we'd all be holding GCN and asking when the next Jermaine Jackson theme-hotel opens. So I say, well-played mate. Enjoy your (semi-) retirement. The mornings won't be the same without your opening volleys.  

Trading: slow start but coming good. Traded LNG twice, once on each down-leg. Also took WDR when it looked overdone intraday and QAN at horizontal support.