daytrading sep 11 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market hit a new 16-week high this morning as a regional rally continued and the US backed away from military action against Syria.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 23 points or 0.4% ahead at 5224 after earlier touching 5232, its highest point since May 20. A mixed morning saw strength in materials +1%, industrials +0.9% and financials +0.6% offset falls in the gold sector -2.6%, energy -0.9% and utilities -0.3%.

"Risk appetite has improved," Tim Radford, analyst at Rivkin Securities, told Fairfax. "It could continue improving, as investors stop worrying about Syria and next week's FOMC meeting amid an absence of important economic news in the near-term."

US President Barack Obama told a TV audience this morning he had asked Congress to postpone a vote on military action in Syria while the international community pursues a Russian plan to take control of Syria's chemical weapons. President Obama said he had "a deeply held preference for peaceful solutions", but did not rule out air strikes. Read more here.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 0.2% and was on track for a 10th straight rise as most Asian markets pushed higher this morning. The Shanghai Composite advanced 0.14% and Japan's Nikkei gained 0.62%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.3% and Dow futures were recently up six points or less than 0.1%.

Consumer confidence hit a two-and-a-half-year high ahead of the federal election. The WBC-MI sentiment index jumped 4.7 points to 110.6 this month, the strongest reading since December 2010.

Crude oil futures fell another 29 cents this morning to US$107.01 a barrel. Spot gold wobbled following Obama's speech but quickly recovered and was lately $2.80 stronger at US$1,366.70 an ounce. The dollar was buying 92.97 US cents.


Not a convincing breakout on the index, but a promising platform for tomorrow if the gains are held to the close and Wall Street plays nice tonight. Oil and gold both tanked during Obama's speech but now look much healthier. I was strictly monogamous this morning, trading NEN three times for three wins.