daytrading june 28 afternoon

Thanks Endless and also to Riskninja for the generous comment this morning. (In fact, thanks to everyone who has posted something supportive over the years - I don't acknowledge every comment to avoid clogging up the thread but the support is always appreciated.)

Half-time round-up:

A second day of gains pushed the Australian stock market into positive territory for the week before softness in Chinese trade took some of the shine off the rally.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was ahead eight points or 0.2% at 4051 after pushing as high as 4074 in early trade. A broad rally saw most sectors advance, led by health +0.8%, consumer discretionary +0.7% and metals & mining +0.6%. Energy stocks posted the biggest loss, falling 1.7% after STO announced a cost blow-out at its Gladstone LNG project.

"Markets were reminded what optimism feels like overnight as US data provided a sprinkle of positive releases to shift the focus from the doom and gloom of the euro-zone," GFT Markets strategist Andrew Taylor told Fairfax.

Asian markets were mostly positive, but the Shanghai Composite turned negative after a positive start. Shanghai fell 0.27% while Japan's Nikkei put on 0.91% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was little changed at +0.01%. Dow futures were recently down six points or less than 0.1%.

Sales of new homes inched up 0.7% last month, thanks to rising apartment sales. A 5.3% drop in job ads over the first quarter suggested possible softening in the jobs market.

Crude oil futures eased 20 cents this morning to US$80.37 a barrel. Spot gold was $1 firmer at US$1,575.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.011.


Hmmm... the Friday fade appears to be kicking in a day early as Shanghai resumes a downtrend that began at the start of last month. I tend to think the markets have already factored in another dud EU summit but it's not a great surprise to see traders locking in profits before the windbags gather tonight. Been a quiet morning here after a hectic few days. One trade in CUE, as yet unprofitable. Missed a few more by setting the buy order a pip too low.