daytrading dec 12 afternoon

Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:

Australian stocks recouped most of Friday's losses as Asian markets gave Europe's fiscal accord a mixed reception this morning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 61 points or nearly 1.5% at 4263, with all sectors except consumer staples (-0.3%) advancing. Energy stocks led the gains, rising 2.2%, followed by health +2.1% and metals & mining +1.8%.

Asian markets traded mixed as market commentators warned that Friday's euro-zone deal was unlikely to be the final word on the region's sovereign debt crisis. Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.53% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.54%. Shanghai was recently off 0.1% but improving. Dow futures were recently neutral at +1 point.

"The market - once it starts having a good look at what happened - could have some weakness ahead," Burrell Stockbroking senior advisor Jamie Elgar told Fairfax. "We were looking for some real fire-power from the ECB and that's been pushed aside."

A slowdown in Chinese demand for raw materials contributed to a narrowing in the trade surplus in September, according to figures released this morning. The trade surplus narrowed from $2.56 billion to $1.59 billion, the smallest surplus since March, as iron ore prices slumped.

Home loans improved for a seventh straight month, easing concerns over weak clearance rates in key markets. The number of leans approved in September was 0.7% higher than the month before, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported this morning.

Crude oil futures slumped 63 cents this morning to US$99.20 a barrel. Spot gold was $6.10 softer at US$1,7108.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.019.


Good to see our market follow through on Friday's overseas buying, but it feels like a fizzer in terms of volume. Well done to those making money today. As someone who prefers to buy pullbacks, I've had a fruitless morning waiting for a buy signal.