Australian shares fell for a second day amid a retreat from yield stocks as the dollar succumbed to a sharp drop in consumer confidence.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 12 points or 0.2% weaker at 5167 as declines in financials -0.9%, property trusts -1.7%, consumer discretionary -0.7% and gold -4.2% outweighed gains in materials +0.7%, energy +0.4%, industrials +0.2% and select defensive sectors.
The dollar sagged back under 98 US cents after new data showed this month's rate cut failed to bolster consumer confidence. The MI-WBC index of consumer sentiment skidded 7% this month, extending April's 5.1% drop. The dollar was recently buying 97.94 US cents.
"We would have expected a solid boost to the index following that rate cut," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans told Fairfax. "In this survey we added an additional question around respondents' assessments of the budget and the results confirm our reasonable assumption that this weakness in confidence is being driven by a sharply negative response to the budget."
Asian markets traded higher. Shanghai inched up 0.08% and Japan's Nikkei gained 1.06%. Trading in Hong Kong was delayed by heavy rain. Dow futures were recently up two points or less than 0.1%.
Spot gold firmed $3.30 this morning to US$1,378 an ounce. Crude oil futures were unchanged at US$95.81 a barrel.
Day trading is the art of losing less money than you make. Sounds simple but it has proven utterly beyond me this week. The techniques that paid off handsomely for a month have delivered too many losses among the wins for the last few days. Weak trading conditions have a lot to do with it, but I've also fallen back into bad habits. My aim for the day was to steady the ship but I doubt an experienced navigator would think much of the course I charted. Ahead on FWD, behind on RCR, flat on ISN. Just sold the last of MAD from yesterday for a slim profit.
