Daytrading May 25 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares have staged their strongest rally in a month as US futures shrugged off Greek debt worries and Asian markets kicked higher.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 63 points or 1.1% ahead at 5728 and on track for its best return since an 88-point surge on April 24. There were gains across the board this morning, including rises of 1.5% in energy, 1.6% in industrials, 1.4% in utilities and 1.1% in financials.

Dow futures betrayed no concern about weekend developments in Greece, recently ahead by 12 points or less than 0.1% leading into tonight's Memorial Day public holiday. China's Shanghai Composite surged 2.19% this morning to a new seven-year high. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.7%. Trading on Hong Kong's Hang Seng was suspended for a holiday.

Crude oil futures rose 13 cents or 0.2% this morning to US$59.85 a barrel. Spot gold was $1 weaker at US$1,204.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 78.26 US cents.


Interesting rally. What does it mean? No selling pressure from America/Hong Kong? Shorters using the low volumes to cover? It's worth noting that the ASX has a habit of using US holidays as an opportunity to drive the market one way, then reversing most of the gains/losses the next day, essentially resetting to where it was before the US closed. In other words, it would not surprise to see most of today's rise unwind tomorrow. Trading: poor start to the day with VTX announcement. Exited for the loss of a pip. Got in near the low in EDE but took profits too quickly. Nice bounce in 1PG - it's one of the more reliable intraday swingers at present. Added AJX - looks marginally overdone intraday. Also took a tiddler in IBG but the volumes are insipid.