Daytrading December 8 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Energy stocks plumbed a 10-year low this morning as the Australian share market declined for the fourth time in five sessions.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was trading 32 points or 0.6% lower at 5124 as gains in telecoms +0.9%, property trusts +0.8%, industrials +0.4% and health +0.4% were outweighed by heavy falls in resource stocks and a 0.7% drop in financials.

The energy sector plunged 6.7% to a level last seen in February 2005 after crude oil touched a six-year low overnight and Woodside announced it was abandoning plans to merge with Oil Search. Share in both companies fell heavily. The metals & mining sector sagged 3.8% after iron ore sank to its lowest price since at least 2009. Crude oil futures bounced 19 cents this morning to US$37.80 a barrel.

"Market focus at the moment is the potential deflationary effects of lower oil prices, and the signalling that aggregate demand is weak," CMC chief market strategist Michael McCarthy told Fairfax. "At some stage however, there may be a collective awakening to the immediate impact lower input prices have on profits. The slide in oil prices is a "good" fall in that it reflects increasing supply rather than falling demand, and this is not yet reflected in share prices."

A weak morning across Asia drove US equity futures lower. China's Shanghai Composite slid 0.86%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.41% and Japan's Nikkei 0.91%. Dow futures were recently off 54 points or 0.3%.

Business confidence picked up last month after a dip in October. The NAB survey showed confidence improved to +5 from a revised +3 the previous month. Conditions were steady at +10 for a fourth straight month.

Spot gold was $6.80 weaker at US$1,068.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.55 US cents.


Gnarly conditions this morning. All the oilers have been taken to the wood-yard. STO down 15%. Ouch. You can also hear the air coming out of some of the year's biggest success stories this week - 1PG, RFN, RNT, etc. Traded 1PG twice this morning and RFN three times. AVQ twice, ACU for peanuts. Lately into ISX. Busy session without going near the oilers.