Daytrading January 29 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares gave back some of yesterday's gains as a poorly-received earnings update from Amazon depressed US equity futures ahead of an afternoon policy update from the Bank of Japan.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was eight points or 0.2% weaker at 4968 as slim gains in energy and select yield stocks were outweighed by declines in the gold sector -5.2%, health -2.1% and financials -0.4%.

The market gave up early gains amid fears that the BoJ will sit on its hands this afternoon. Only six of 42 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the board to announce further stimulus measures at 4pm AEST. The Nikkei was last down 0.32%.

Also depressing buyer enthusiasm was a sharp after-market sell-off in Amazon after the retail giant missed earnings expectations this morning. Shares slumped 13.43%. Nasdaq futures were last down 10.75 points or 0.26%. Dow futures were up nine points or 0.06%.

China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.39% Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.37%.

“After the big sell-down we’ve seen in the early part of January, we’re seeing a bit of stabilisation,” Matthew Sherwood, head of investment strategy at Perpetual, told Bloomberg. “Is this the calm before the next storm or is this a real opportunity to come in and start buying cheaper assets? I still think we’re in for a very tough year.”

Crude oil futures rallied 36 cents this morning to US$33.58 a barrel. Spot gold was 60 cents softer at US$1,115.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 70.91 US cents.


The XJO baulked at the 5000 level, peaking this morning at precisely 4999.9, according to CommSec. Psychological barrier or unhappy coincidence? Time will tell. Might not feel like things are improving, but we're on track for a second straight weekly advance. Trading: one of those mornings where you make good money but curse yourself for not doing better still. Good entries in SHJ, SMN and MFG (first bounce). Except for the latter, exits were far too hasty. Re-entered MFG below $22. Also took CL8 for any partial arvo recovery.