Daytrading November 11 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The ASX looks poised to smash a four-week losing run and close at its highest point of the month following a record close on the Dow Jones overnight.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 10 points or 0.2% ahead at 5339 and within reach of a second straight positive close. A mixed morning saw strong buying in financials +2.2%, metals & mining +0.8% and energy +0.4% outweigh heavy selling in gold -6%, utilities -3.4% and telecoms -2.7%.

"The firm open by the ASX 200 this morning masks mixed reactions to the Trump themes," CMC chief analyst Ric Spooner told Fairfax. "The potential for a significant increase in US demand is a game changer for commodities like copper and is fuelling the rally in Australian mining stocks. However, the story is not so rosy for the utilities and real estate sectors this morning. The last 24 hours have seen another sharp jump in bond yields, which is putting pressure on stocks in these sectors."

China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.08%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.83% and Japan's Nikkei gained 1.18%. Dow futures were recently down 26 points or 0.14% after the blue-chip index closed at a record overnight.

Crude oil futures fell another 21 cents or 0.47% this morning to US$44.45 a barrel. Gold futures were $7.80 or 0.62% weaker at US$1,259 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76 US cents.


A real two-speed market this morning, with more declining sectors than advancers. Some strong market themes developing for those with a wider timeframe. Gold and yield stocks copping it from the rising greenback, but may find support longer term if inflation kicks in under Trump. I sold my goldies yesterday arvo. Had a tentative play with SAR again this morning but it didn't really play out - was content to get out a bit of over break-even. Also been playing with some of the battered health and utility stocks, in this case MVF and APA. Looking for modest partial recoveries this arvo, in line with recent action.