Daytrading May 30 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market marked time near a nine-month high as public holidays in the US and UK tonight dulled buyer interest and gold extended its longest losing run in more than a year.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was three points or less than 0.1% weaker at 5403 after a morning stuck in a tight 13.5-point range. Gains in consumer staples +0.8%, IT +0.6% and health +0.6% were cancelled out falls in the gold sector -3.7%, metals & mining -1.2% and financials -0.2%.

The market shrugged off downbeat domestic economic data and upbeat US equity futures. New figures showed both company operating profits and new home sales declined. Corporate profits dived 4.7% last quarter and home sales by the same percentage last month. Economists had expected both to be stronger.

Dow futures were last up 40 points or 0.22% ahead of tonight's Memorial Day market holiday despite signals from the Fed leading into the long weekend that a rate rise is likely this northern summer.

“The message from the Fed remains that a rate hike is getting closer,” Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, told Bloomberg. “Caution and delays from the Fed have provided confidence that it is not going to be reckless.”

Gold futures dropped near US$1,200 an ounce this morning, positioning the market for a ninth straight loss. Gold for August delivery was off $12 or 1% at US$1,204.70 an ounce.

China's Shanghai Composite put on 0.05%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.45% and Japan's Nikkei 0.89%. Crude oil futures edged up four cents or 0.1% this morning to US$49.37 a barrel. The dollar was buying 71.61 US cents.


The golden run in precious metals miners is under pressure. Nine straight losses is getting interesting. I picked up TRY and RSG this morning near their lows, but remain undecided whether to keep any skin in the game overnight.