daytrading jan 24 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

A rebound in resource and defensive stocks helped the share market pare three days of selling as the dollar hit a three-and-a-half-year low and Asian markets sagged.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was eight points or 0.2% weaker at 5254 after earlier falling as low as 5244. Gold stocks had a stellar morning, rising 3.8%, ahead of health +0.6%, metals & mining +0.4% and materials +0.3%. The consumer discretionary sector tumbled 1.1% after The Reject Shop announced disappointing Christmas sales.

The rebound came as traders took a more sober view of yesterday's disappointing Chinese factory figures.

"Overall it doesn't look like the situation is quite as bad," Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG, told Fairfax.. "We might continue to see the market take up a bit of momentum, as the recent losses actually present some opportunities for investors to get involved in some under-performing stocks."

A flight to safe havens overnight pushed the dollar to its lowest level since 2010. The dollar was lately buying 87.73 US cents.

Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.19%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.57% and Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.42%. Dow futures were recently up nine points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures rose eight cents this morning to US$97.36 a barrel. Spot gold was $2.60 weaker at US$1,260.10 an ounce.


No signs of nerves heading into the long weekend. Suggests the 'big money' sees the overnight action as a blip, rather than the start of a genuine retrace. An armchair ride for me this morning - easy bounce profits in KAR, TRS and SWM. Signing off now to head out for a birthday lunch. What with that, Burns Night and Australia Day, this may be my last sober moment for several days. It's a good life.