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.
- Forums
- ASX - Day Trading
- daytrading dec 18 afternoon
daytrading dec 18 afternoon
-
- There are more pages in this discussion • 99 more messages in this thread...
You’re viewing a single post only. To view the entire thread just sign in or Join Now (FREE)
Featured News
Featured News
The Watchlist
HAR
HARANGA RESOURCES LIMITED.
Peter Batten, MD
Peter Batten
MD
Previous Video
Next Video
SPONSORED BY The Market Online