daytrading august 6 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares are lower for a second day after a mixed bag of economic reports added to pressures from weak US futures and weak regional markets.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 16 points or 0.3% weaker at 5095 as the prospect of a possible rate cut this afternoon failed to keep the index in the black. Gains in property trusts +1.5% and industrials +0.2% were outweighed by falls among gold stocks -2.3%, energy -1%, financials -0.6% and metals & mining -0.6%.

Asian markets retraced as more strong US economic data overnight raised the prospect that the Federal Reserve may start to unwind its stimulus package as early as next month. Shanghai dropped 0.49%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.69% and Japan's Nikkei 1.36%. Dow futures were recently off 33 points or 0.2%.

"The ramp-up in the US economy is not only gaining momentum, but is accelerating," Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets, told Bloomberg. "This is increasing the hawkish view of the Fed. This is why the September taper talk will continue. The blueprint for monetary stimulus tapering will be laid out in September with the first wind-back in October."

The morning's domestic economic reports did little to clarify the prospects for a cut to the cash rate this afternoon, as a trade surplus and growth in house prices were offset by a fifth straight slide in job advertising. The June trade report revealed a surplus of $602 million, below expectations as exports declined 0.1%. House prices in capital cities increased 2.4% last quarter. Job ads fell another 1.1% last month and are now 8% weaker than when the rot set in back in February.

Crude oil futures retreated 12 cents this morning to US$106.37 a barrel. Spot gold sagged $7 to US$1,295.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 89.27 US cents.


Tricky morning. Plenty of pullbacks but not much bounce. I got on one that did in MBN and needed two attempts to get a profit out of RXL. Exited SSN from yesterday. Shortage of easy money today.