daytrading dec 10 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market is within reach of a 17-month closing high after regional economic data exceeded predictions, boosting Asian equities and US futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 13 points or 0.3% ahead at 4565 after earlier touching the 2012 17-month closing high of 4571. Resource stocks led the rally, with metals & mining rising 1.1%, gold 0.8% and energy 0.2%. The defensive health -1% and consumer staples -0.3% were the only sectors to lose ground.

The rally came as Japanese data released this morning showed a larger current-account surplus than expected and weekend data underlined the recent turnaround in the Chinese economy. Shanghai rallied 0.38% this morning, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.65% and Japan's Nikkei 0.22%. Dow futures were recently up 13 points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures bounced 24 cents this morning to US$86.22 a barrel. Spot gold was 60 cents firmer at US$1,706.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0484.


Great to see the XJO make an early tilt at the October closing high. What happens over the next few days will have a big impact on the medium-term outlook. Some sessions let you swing for the fence, others are about patiently compiling runs. This morning was very much the latter here. Took a few off the post-dividend sell-off in MTS and post-scandal sell-off in SXL. ABC was not as easy as the trading code implies, but two bites eventually yielded a slim profit. Finally, it's been a tough trading year but you can console yourself with the thought that at least you weren't on any of these: Wall Street's worst trades of 2012.