Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:The Australian share market's...

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The Australian share market's wild week continued with a plunge this morning as oil burst above US$100 a barrel for the first time in more than a year and more weak data exacerbated concerns about a slowdown in China.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 108 points or 2.2% at 4727 and on track for its third swing of more than 1.5% for the week. All sectors saw red a day after the index's biggest rise in 19 months. The bleeding was heaviest in metals & mining -3.2%, materials -3.1%, consumer staples -2.9% and health -2.6%. The financials sector dropped 1.9%.

The reversal came as the declining dollar compounded losses for overseas investors while opening opportunities for domestic value investors. The dollar was lately buying 91.63 US cents.

"There seems to be a battle going on between offshore selling and domestic buying," William Keenan, head of equities research at Lonsec, told Fairfax. "On the day-to-day basis it depends on who has the momentum."

Services sector data from China heightened fears of a slowdown in the biggest consumer of Australian raw materials. The official services purchasing managers' index declined to 53.9 last month from 54.3 in May.

The morning's domestic data was mixed. Sales of new homes increased for a third month, rising by 1.6% in May. Trade figures were stronger than expected, delivering a surplus of $670 million. Less positive, retail sales increased by an anaemic 0.1% and services activity contracted for a 17th straight month.

Oil soared above US$102 a barrel this morning as a political stand-off in Egypt heightened tensions in the Middle East. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi again rejected calls for his resignation. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was lately up $2.24 or 2.2% at US$101.77 a barrel after earlier hitting US$102.05. Read more here. Spot gold was $2.80 stronger at US$1,244.90 an ounce.

Falls in Asian markets turned up the pressure on US futures. Shanghai dropped 1.84%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.96% and Japan's Nikkei 0.59%. Dow futures were recently off 28 points or 0.2%.


What a week. This past month has seen the wildest gyrations since the GFC. A trader has to stay nimble, keep an open mind and take each day as it comes. Diehard bulls and bears both cop it in these conditions. I began the session well with wins in SBM, PRY, MBN (twice) and WDC. However, I hadn't anticipated the sheer weight of negativity on the index this morning and find myself underwater on GPT, BLY, WRT and PRY (again). Waiting to sell into any bounces. Hope no one here bought the open in BGS - been obvious for weeks that most big spec opens are being sold into. Got to adapt to the changed conditions.