daytrading dec 6 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

A surprise drop in unemployment lifted the dollar this morning but did little to arrest a gentle decline in stocks back towards where they began the week.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was four points or 0.1% weaker at 4516, a few points above where the index opened on Monday. A patternless morning saw shallow gains in materials, IT stocks and a few defensive sectors swamped by falls across the rest of the bourse. Gold stocks -1.3%, telecoms -0.8% and the Small Ords -0.5% were notable among the declines.

The dollar jumped more than a third of a cent after an unexpected decline in the jobless rate reduced the odds on further rate cuts next year. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% last month from 5.4% in October as the economy added 13,900 jobs. Economists had anticipated a rise to a rate of 5.5%. The dollar was recently buying $US1.0474.

"More jobs created, more hours worked and fewer people unemployed," Savanth Sebastian, economist at the Commonwealth Bank, told Fairfax. "Overall the Australian economy is holding up well despite a very uncertain global environment. While there are a number of high profile company failures and job losses, beneath the surface small and medium-sized business are still keen to put on more staff."

US futures remained soft despite gains in much of Asia. Shanghai gave back 0.17% following yesterday's 2.87% jump, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.17% and Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.7%. Dow futures were recently off four points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures gave back eight cents this morning at US$87.75 a barrel. Spot gold sagged $4.40 to US$1,689.90 an ounce.


A pretty extraordinary set of job numbers, but the market shrugged. Perhaps looking toppy after two weeks of strong gains - may hang around here for a bit until the fiscal cliff sideshow reaches a climax. We're not exactly spoiled for intraday opportunities at present. I scratched out a wage the hard way by starting buying MEO at 13.5 and continuing to add down to the low. Dumped the lot at 13 for a slender profit. Also had a part-fill in the shallow bounced in NST and got rid of some BKP from yesterday for brokerage. Subsistence stuff.