daytrading jan 18 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Profit downgrades, disappointing consumer confidence and renewed concerns over a Greek default kept a lid on Australian shares this morning.

At 1pm the ASX 200 was down 2 points or less than 0.1% at 4213 as gains for resource stocks were offset by falls among financials, industrials, property trusts and Telstra. Consumer discretionary stocks were flat after Specialty Fashion Group became the latest retailer to lower its profit outlook. Wesfarmers was the latest insurer to warn of falling profits after an unusual number of natural disasters last year.

"This is the traditional confession season," Prasad Patkar, portfolio manager at Platypus Asset Management, told Fairfax. "This is the time for profit warnings: if there are those to come, they will come out in the next two or three weeks. If we trade well through those then I think we have reasonable grounds to be optimistic for the first half of this year."

Consumer confidence improved this month, but not by as much as expected following a sharp fall in December. The WBC-MI index rose 2.4% after slumping 8.3% last month.

"This is a somewhat disappointing result," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans told Fairfax. "Despite the Reserve Bank having cut the overnight cash rate by a total of 50 basis points, with the major banks passing on the full cut to variable rate mortgage borrowers, the index is still slightly below the level which it registered before the first rate cut. In effect, at this stage, the rate cuts have been unable to raise consumer confidence."

Sales of new motor vehicles in Australia declined by 2.9% last month, according to a separate report.

Asian markets were brighter. Japan's Nikkei put on 0.14%, Shanghai 0.32% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.32%. Dow futures were recently up 6 points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures dropped 72 cents this morning to US$101.04 a barrel. Spot gold was off $5.40 at US$1,646.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0384.


Bit of an anti-climax after yesterday. Still one or two runners this morning but fewer and further between. I had another dabble in FWD once it turned north. Underwater on RMS and flat in RRS. Hum-drum morning.