daytrading may 22 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

An unexpectedly large improvement in Chinese factory activity helped steer the Australian share market towards its best session in at least six weeks.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 60 points or 1.1% ahead at 5484 as all sectors rallied. The index last advanced more than 50 points on April 9, when it rallied 53 points. Among the morning's picks were the I.T. sector +1.7%, energy +1.6% and health +1.5%.

The metals & mining sector surged 1.8% after HSBC's preliminary May manufacturing PMI for China rose to a five-month high at 49.7, just below the 50-point level that separates expansion from contraction but well above last month's reading of 48.1 and the consensus forecast of 48.4.

"Some tentative signs of stabilisation are emerging, partly as a result of the recent mini-stimulus measures and lower borrowing costs," Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, told Fairfax. "But downside risks to growth remain, particularly as the property market continues to cool. We think more policy easing is needed to put a floor under growth in the coming months."

China's Shanghai Composite rallied 0.54%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.69% and Japan's Nikkei 1.59%. Dow futures gained 39 points or more than 0.2%.

Crude oil futures put on 16 cents this morning at US$104.02 a barrel. Spot gold was 80 cents weaker at US$1,291 an ounce. The dollar was buying 92.66 US cents.


Very good news out of China. Mind you, the market was running so hard by then that you have to suspect there was a pretty healthy 'whisper number' doing the rounds at the brokers. Strong US futures point to the possibility of another rise on Wall Street tonight, although much will depend on the first significant domestic economic data of the week. Not my sort of session here on the ASX - I set plenty of buy orders but there was too much bullishness for any hits. I got nothing.