daytrading dec 18 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares hovered near break-even ahead of tonight's US Federal Reserve meeting as RBA Governor Glenn Stevens talked down the dollar and Wotif issued a profit warning.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was four points or less than 0.1% higher at 5107 after earlier rising as high as 5115. A mixed morning saw gains in property trusts +0.9%, metals & mining +0.6% and financials +0.3% offset losses in consumer discretionary -1%, consumer staples -0.7% and industrials -0.9%. Shares in Wotif slumped nearly 30% after the online travel company warned off soft demand.

The index was trading within a few points of where it finished last week amid caution ahead of tonight's Fed taper decision.

"If they don't taper in this meeting they will give a strong indication of a taper in the January or March meeting," Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, told Bloomberg. "A failure to move shouldn't cause too much of a reaction in the markets, as long as the chairman gives a strong indication it is coming. Much will be made of the tone of Ben Bernanke and how upbeat he sounds on the future of the economy."

The dollar recovered a little of its overnight loss despite Reserve Bank Governor Stevens telling a Canberra committee that a dollar trading above 90 US cents was "not suitable" for the current economy. The Aussie edged up nearly a fifth of a cent to 89.15 US cents. Read more here.

China's Shanghai Composite retreated 0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.24%. Dow futures were recently up 15 points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures bounced 19 cents this morning to US$97.30 a barrel. Spot gold was $4 higher at US$1,234.60 an ounce.



Another low-key session, but at least the urgency has gone out of the selling. Looks to me like the stage is set for a rebound if Bernanke gives the right signals tonight. I got a trade out of REA for a second day. Perhaps tomorrow for a genuine reversal. Also scraped a part-fill in COK and gave up on FAS from yesterday. Didn't get any real feeling for WTF, so stayed away.