Daytrading October 5 afternoon

Thanks Oscar for this morning and thanks for standing in again yesterday, Shants.


Half-time round-up:

A brutal sell-off in gold stocks helped drag the Australian share market lower for the first time this week amid fears that the era of cheap money from central banks may be nearing an end.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 23 points or 0.4% weaker at 5461 as traders dumped alternatives to the US dollar in expectation that the Federal Reserve may raise its key rate as early as next month. The gold sector crashed 6.8% to a three-and-a-half-month low, utilities 2%, metals & mining 1.7% and telecoms 1.4%. The fall was cushioned by modest rises in IT +1.1% and financials 0.3%.

Gold tumbled to a post-Brexit low overnight after the US dollar surged on a suggestion by a member of the Fed that the central bank may raise rates next month despite a presidential election. Also worrying investors was a Bloomberg report that the European Central Bank may wind back its stimulus program.

“We’ve been at an inflection point in financial markets for a few weeks now, with market participants sensing a changing tide among central banks,” Chris Weston, chief markets strategist at IG, told Bloomberg. “The wash-up has been a slight pickup in implied market volatility with some signs of risk aversion that need to be watched closely.”

Dow futures eased 25 points or 0.14% as the vice-presidential debate got underway in the US. With China's Shanghai Composite closed for a public holiday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei both rallied 0.34%.

Gold futures rebounded $4.10 or 0.33% to US$1.273.80 an ounce. Crude oil futures were 56 cents or 1.15% firmer at US$49.25 a barrel. The dollar was buying 76.36 US cents.


Asian markets look much more cheerful than us. Not as exposed to overnight commodity weakness. Looks to me like we might be setting up for another global retrace. S&P 500 looks a lot like it did before the February plunge. Trigger might be the US election or central bank action? Trading: solid morning. Rode the rollercoaster on SYR and got out with a fair profit despite bring miles off both the low and the high - loads of wiggle room there. Also got trades out of IOT and ERM.