daytrading june 19 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian shares have shrugged off a six-month low on the Shanghai Composite and a flat morning among the big banks to advance for a third session from four.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead by 27 points or 0.6% at 4841, more than 180 points above last week's five-month low. A broad rally was spearheaded by industrials +1.7%, consumer discretionary +1.5% and materials +1.4%. Health -0.6%, gold -0.4% and financials -0.1% were the only sectors to reverse.

Today's rally followed several weeks of turbulence on world markets as traders second-guessed the US Federal Reserve's intentions towards its bond-buying program. The Fed wraps up a two-day meeting with a press conference and policy statement from Chairman Ben Bernanke tonight.

"We expect the chairman to highlight that tapering is not necessarily tightening, but instead is a slowing in the pace of accommodation," an analyst at Barclays Capital told
Reuters. "Whether the chairman succeeds in convincing markets that tapering is conditional on incoming data, as opposed to a foregone conclusion, and that a willingness to taper should be separated from the remaining components of the exit strategy remains an open question."

Chinese shares this morning fell to their lowest level since mid-December as this week's strong house price data fuelled speculation about further property curbs. The Shanghai Composite was lately down 1.85%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.22% and Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.23%. Dow futures were recently down 17 points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures slipped four cents this morning at US$98.40 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.10 weaker at US$1,365.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 94.63 US cents.


Steady as she goes. Even the Small Ords is showing signs of revival this morning. However, not a lot of life at the spec end. Not a lot of movement anywhere, in fact. I look for price extremes and the pickings this morning were exceedingly slim. Holding PRU for any arvo recovery. Took profits on CDU from yesterday. Bought a couple of books online for a holiday next month. Tinkered with my fantasy footy team. Read the paper. Yawned...