Daytrading August 7 afternoon

Thanks Brit - hope the migraine has lifted.


Half-time round-up:

The share market extended its loss for the week to more than 200 points this morning as the effects of ANZ's $3 billion capital raising continued to reverberate.
  
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 96 points or 1.7% at 5514 after earlier touching a three-and-a-half-week low. The financials sector was the biggest weight for a second day as ANZ's share price fell to a level that reflected the issue of more than 80 million new shares through a placement. The financials sector dived 2.3% after ANZ suffered its biggest fall since the GFC.

Also notably weak was the materials sector, which skidded 2.1% after Orica announced a surprise write-down to reflect weak mining demand. The metals & mining sector shed 1.5%, health 1.6% and gold 1.4%.

This morning's retreat followed falls on Wall Street ahead of tonight's July employment data, which are expected to play a significant role in whether the Federal Reserve raises rates next month.

“A cautious tone in risk markets ahead of tonight’s non-farm payrolls,” Matthew Sherwood, head of investment strategy at Perpetual, told Bloomberg. “Increased concern about what a strong report may mean saw equities out of favour and gold, safe-haven currencies and government bonds edge higher.”

China's Shanghai Composite bounced 2.12%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.85% and Japan's Nikkei declined 0.28%. Dow futures were recently up seven points or less than 0.1%.

The dollar rose a third of a cent after the Reserve Bank delivered a more optimistic assessment of the economy in its quarterly monetary policy statement. Read more here. The dollar was buying 73.78 US cents.

Crude oil futures rallied 15 cents this morning to US$44.81 a barrel. Spot gold was off 90 cents at US$1,089.20 an ounce.


A messy morning compounded by ORI's impairment charge - a reminder of how tough things remain in the mining sector. Although the falls in the financial sector look brutal, they have only pushed the XXJ back to where it was a month ago, so it's hardly cause for panic. Frankly, it's good to see the financial regulator force the shareholders to take the pain, rather than leaving it to the government to act as a safety net by socialising the losses when the next crisis rolls through. Trading: off my game this morning. Dithered during the opening tussle and missed a few opportunities. Eventually picked up WDS and RCR at/near their lows, but that's a bit like arriving late at the school canteen and having to sit with the outcasts, instead of your usual crowd.