Daytrading October 27 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australian stocks marked time for a second day as regional markets eased ahead of central bank policy statements in Japan and the US later this week.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was trading six points or 0.1% ahead at 5354 after spending the morning in a 14-point trading range, the tightest in several months. Gains in health stocks +1.3%, consumer discretionary +0.6% and consumer staples +0.5% shaded falls in energy -1.9%, gold -1.7% and metals & mining -1.2%.

Global markets have hit the pause button this week after three weeks of quick gains. The US Federal Reserve issues a policy statement tomorrow night and the Bank of Japan on Friday.

“Traders are just sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what will happen,” Angus Nicholson, analyst at IG Markets, told Bloomberg. “The Fed and the BOJ meetings this week are pivotal events that will determine whether this rally can go any higher. If we see the Fed push back raising interest rates toward 2016 and the BOJ step up stimulus, that will have a big positive impact on equities.”

China's Shanghai Composite shed 1% this morning, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.45% and Japan's Nikkei 0.21%. Dow futures were recently off four points or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures retreated 18 cents this morning to US$43.80 a barrel. Spot gold was $2.50 weaker at US$1,163.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.56 US cents.


The specs are providing what little excitement there is on a day when the index ain't going nowhere. Can't recall a narrower trading range in recent times - quite a contrast to the 80-100 points moves we were seeing just a few weeks back. Trading: wins in RAP, MOZ and MMJ. Mistimed NST and possibly ISX.