Thanks Endless. You were right - I struggled for trades this...

Thanks Endless. You were right - I struggled for trades this morning. More below.

Half-time round-up:

The share market's seven-week winning run is under threat after the big miners sold off this morning as a cyclone threatened production in Western Australia.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 16 points or 0.3% weaker at 4707 after slides in BHP, RIO and FMG helped drag the metals & mining sector down 1.4%. The declines came after Rio closed iron ore export terminals and BHP halted work on offshore oil-fields as the category four Cyclone Narelle advanced on WA. Read more here.
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Gold stocks, up 0.6%, and IT, +1.1%, were the pick of the sectors. Financials were flat and the Small Ordinaries put on 0.2%.

The declines came despite gains in most of Asia and solid US futures after US stocks closed at a five-year high overnight, Japan's government approved new stimulus measures and Chinese consumer inflation increased. Shanghai slipped 0.08%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.34% and Japan's Nikkei surged 1.3%. Dow futures were recently up five points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures crept up nine cents this morning to US$93.96 a barrel. Spot gold was 60 cents softer at US$1,673.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0586.


Not as much enthusiasm in the market at the end of a big week. Rio and BHP are a worry - both have both come off their highs pretty hard over the last week and a half. The specs are still buzzing, although the gains seemed more concentrated this morning and the length of runs seems to be shortening as the 'free' money chases the next big thing. I failed to trade my plan to buy AZS yesterday, and paid the price today when it took off without me. Instead I managed a pygmy win in PXG - got the low but a part-fill of 7,000 shares doesn't deliver much profit. Also took SYD this morning - volume has been rising all week and I'm looking for a capitulation bounce that has yet to eventuate. High risk, so don't treat this as a buy recommendation. The shorts are winning so far.