Daytrading June 17 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A tough week on the ASX looks like ending with a mild uptick after financial stocks responded to the reduced likelihood that the UK will vote to leave the European Union following the murder of an MP.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 12 points or 0.25% ahead at 5159 and on track to break a six-session losing streak. Leading the advance were the financial sector +0.9%, IT +0.7% and industrials +0.3%, outweighing declines in  gold -2.4%, energy -0.7% and utilities -0.6%.

Wall Street and crude oil rebounded overnight and the UK's FTSE pared early losses amid speculation that the murder of pro-Europe campaigner Jo Cox may tilt next Friday's referendum towards the 'Stay' camp. The looming vote has caused ructions across risk markets over the last two weeks as polling showed the outcome was too close to call.

“Campaigning has been placed on hold and that to an extent steadied the market,” Tony Farnham, strategist at Patersons, told Bloomberg. “There’s a significant number of people still undecided and that’s really the swing factor.”

The improved mood boosted Asian markets. China's Shanghai Composite rallied 0.62%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.85% and Japan's Nikkei 1.61%. Dow futures were recently ahead 21 points or 0.12%.

Crude oil futures improved another 31 cents or 0.7% this morning to US$46.52 a barrel. Gold futures were $15.30 or 1.2% softer at US$1,283.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.97 US cents.


Risk assets up, defensives down. The odds on a Brexit are significantly reduced. Cynical place, the market - human dies, the market buys.  The idiot with the gun and the knife has done his cause more damage than he can imagine. Trading: not a lot around for my approach this morning. Squeezed something out of the fleeting bounce in SBM.