Daytrading October 29 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australia's week-long losing run continued this morning as a profit warning from Woolworths, a poorly-received earnings update from ANZ and overnight declines in key commodities weighed on the market.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 35 points or 0.7% lower at 5300 and on track for a fourth straight loss. The consumer staples sector tanked 5.5% after WOW warned its half-year result may fall up to 35%. The financials sector eased 0.1% after ANZ reported full-year earnings below guidance. The metals & mining sector was off 0.8% after iron ore sank below US$50 a ton overnight.

Cushioning the market from a bigger fall were gains in energy +0.7%, utilities +0.5%, property trusts +0.3% and IT +0.3%.

Hopes that the ASX would follow Wall Street and Europe higher were dampened by a slump in US equity futures. Dow futures were recently down 35 points or 0.2%. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.12%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.17% and Japan's Nikkei was last off 0.09%.

Crude oil futures eased 11 cents this morning to US$45.83 a barrel. Spot gold bounced $5.20 to US$1,161.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.08 US cents.


Dear traders: this morning's rally was postponed due to events beyond the management's control. Please come back tomorrow. Your tickets are still valid.   

I did mention a few negatives in the overnight action, but the WOW downgrade and ANZ miss were unexpected. US futures hint that the market just may be having a rethink about the Fed policy statement. Of course Wall Street has the luxury of weighing the matter from pretty much where it was before the August swoon, while we're still about 400 points short. Trading: took a small hit on MTS by buying too early. Moved back into profit with the initial bounce in BAL (out now). Got to the PLS party late but may hold overnight - looks like a reversal candle. Took CVT at support.