Daytrading January 5 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares pared sharp initial falls as Asian markets steadied after the worst start to a year for global equities in more than three decades.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was trading 46 points or 0.9% lower at 5224 and on track for its third straight loss since the 'Santa rally' peaked on December 30. Investor sentiment curdled overnight after unexpectedly soft factory data from China and the US compounded concerns about rising tensions in the Middle East, the sliding yuan and rate hikes in the US.  

“Economic indicators in both China and the US are weak," Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities in Japan, told Bloomberg. "As they’re the world’s two biggest economies and the impact is huge, each new data point is keeping stock markets in suspense. But monetary policy is still accommodating and once markets calm down we’ll see money flow into risk assets again.”

The defensive gold sector was one of only two sectors to make headway this morning, rising 2.1% as spot gold crept up $1.50 this morning to US$1,076.30 an ounce. Metals & mining rallied 0.5%. Heading the declines were health -1.7%, consumer staples -1.3%, telecoms -1.1% and financials -1%.

Asian markets pared yesterday's falls, which included a 6.87% plunge on China's Shanghai Composite. The SC was last up 0.12%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.37% and Japan's Nikkei 0.26%. Dow futures were recently ahead 50 points or 0.29%.

Crude oil futures edged up 26 cents this morning to US$37.02 a barrel. The dollar was buying 72.11 US cents.


Not a bad morning, considering our market's exposure to the Chinese slowdown. A strong hint that the latest 'China panic' will soon blow over. Looking at our index, we were due a pullback and yesterday's data has provided a convenient excuse. I'm less enthusiastic about the US outlook - nasty rounding top developing on the S&P 500/Dow. If that plays out in the months ahead, world markets are going lower. Trading: busy session. Caught the early reversal in LYC and traded bounces in OPT and VTG. Ahead in TPI, underwater in PGH.