daytrading may 25 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Shares appear headed for a third straight weekly loss and a new six-month closing low as caution reigns ahead of a long weekend in the US.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 30 points or 0.75% at 4025, more than 20 points below last Friday's closing level. Falls in metals & mining -1%, industrials -0.8% and financials -0.8% swamped modest gains in gold stocks, utilities, property trusts, consumer discretionary and telecoms.

Asian markets made early ground on the back of an upbeat close to US trade, but turned mixed as the morning wore on. Japan's Nikkei was lately unchanged, Shanghai up 0.04% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.38%. Dow futures were off 28 points or 0.2%.

"The next catalyst will be the Greek election [on June 17] and things that come out of that," Matt Riordan, portfolio manager at Paradice Investment Management, told Bloomberg. "The market is going to play a bit of a wait-and-see game on that front."

Crude oil futures eased four cents this morning to US$90.76 a barrel. Spot gold was $4.30 weaker at US$1,553.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 97.47 US cents.


A fizzer of a session and still deteriorating. Pat yourself on the back if you squeezed a profit out of this morning's long, slow fade. A wasted day for me so far - no trades. Early mark and off to the pub?