Daytrading Feb 15 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares pared strong opening gains as oil and gold retreated and Chinese trading resumed with restrained losses following a week-long break.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 49 points or 1% ahead at 4815 after rallying as much as 89 points in the first 15 minutes of trade. Resource stocks led the advance despite pullbacks this morning in key commodities. The materials sector was last up 4%, metals & mining 3.6% and energy 1%. Telecoms -2.9% and gold -0.8% were the biggest drags.

"Shares have become oversold again and due for at least a bounce which may now be getting underway,"  Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, told Fairfax. "But with global growth worries remaining, it's still premature to say that shares have bottomed."

China's Shanghai Composite re-opened after a week-long holiday with a fall of 2.13%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lifted 2.28% and Japan's Nikkei 4.95%. Dow futures were recently 115 points or 0.72% ahead.

Crude oil futures slid 30 cents or 1% this morning to US$29.14 a barrel, denting Friday's 11% relief rally. Spot gold was $14 lower at US$1,123.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.29 US cents.


Trading: slim pickings from my approach. Got something out of EPD. Dabbled in SGQ. Subsistence stuff.