daytrading sep 12 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market is on track for a five-year closing high despite disappointing jobs data and a mixed morning on regional bourses.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 14 points or 0.3% higher at 5248 after earlier cracking 5250 for the first time since June 2008. Gains in industrials +0.9%, telecoms +0.9% and consumer staples +0.9% helped counter declines in gold -1.3%, utilities -0.3% and property trusts -0.1%.

The unemployment rate crept up to 5.8% last month from 5.7% in July as the economy shed 10,800 positions. The dollar fell back as forex traders speculated about the impact of the data on the Reserve Bank's rate plans. The Aussie was lately buying 92.67 US cents, down roughly three-quarters of a cent.

"As long as the unemployment rate is trending up as it is at the moment, then the RBA will still be thinking about interest rates each month and whether they need to cut them again," CBA chief economist Michael Blythe told Fairfax. "We're still saying that the current 2.5% is the low but obviously this is a tick on the side that says the easing bias is still very much in place."

US futures were mildly negative after a mixed morning on Asian markets. Dow futures were recently off nine points or less than 0.1%. Shanghai and Japan's Nikkei both eased 0.29%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng put on 0.28%.

Crude oil futures retreated 10 cents this morning to US$107.65 a barrel. Spot gold was $5.70 softer at US$1,359.50 an ounce.


If income depended on the number of buy orders placed, I'd be polishing the champagne glasses about now. Unfortunately, an accountant informs me that remuneration in this line of work depends on buying shares at one price and selling them at a higher price. So I'll put the glasses away. Most of my many buy orders this morning were wallflowers. And the couple that did get taken for a spin didn't set the dancefloor on fire. RMS and TRF jigged on the spot. I pulled the first for brokerage but TRF is still hanging around out there. MTU was the only prospect to show any flair, responding beautifully to the old horizontal support.