daytrading nov 2 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Shares surrendered most of their early gains this morning as risk aversion stifled the market ahead of next week's US presidential election and Australian rate decision.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was eight points or 0.2% ahead at 4466 after earlier running as high as 4486. The big banks and traditional defensive sectors were the biggest drags on the market, partly offsetting rises in resource stocks and small caps.

The tepid advance came despite solid gains overnight in the US and Europe and in Asia this morning on the back of upbeat economic data. Shanghai rallied 0.04%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.11% and Japan's Nikkei 1.31%. Dow futures were recently up one point.

"Global indicators are starting to show an improvement in momentum, particularly in the US," Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney told Bloomberg. "This can be sustained if central banks keep supporting growth."

Crude oil futures retreated two cents this morning to US$86.91 a barrel. Spot gold was 10 cents cheaper at US$1,714.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US1.0402.


After outperforming global peers for several weeks, the XJO has reverted to type. Poly's suggestion that the weakness is interest rate driven seems plausible since defensives have been as weak as cyclicals. The steady flow of bolters at the spec end seems to have dried up and a lot of the runners from earlier in the month look shaky. In the absence of better ideas, I caught PRY at the low and a part-fill in CTR.