daytrading sep 23 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

Australian stocks pared a second day of losses after a pick-up in Chinese manufacturing helped mining stocks climb off their lows.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 23 points or 0.4% in the red at 5253 after earlier falling as low as 5227. Resource stocks were the biggest drag on a morning when all sectors lost ground, bar consumer discretionary stocks +0.1% and financials +0.1%. The gold sector tumbled 5%, metals & mining 1% and energy 1.1%.

The index halved its losses after the 11.45am EST release of data showing Chinese factory activity hit a six-month high this month. HSBC's flash purchasing managers' index rose to 51.2 from a final reading of 50.1 last month, ahead of expectations.

The reading added "further evidence to China's ongoing growth rebound. The firmer footing was supported by simultaneous improvements of external and domestic demand conditions," HSBC chief China economist Hongbin Qu told MarketWatch.

The Shanghai Composite rallied 0.54% in response. Dow futures improved by 23 points or 0.15%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a bank holiday and trading on Hong Kong's Hang Seng was delayed by a typhoon.

Spot gold retreated $3.60 this morning to US$1,322 an ounce. Crude oil futures eased three cents to US$104.64 a barrel. The dollar was buying 94.27 US cents.



Hooray for China. That bullish factory report helped dig us out of the hole this morning. My broad approach to trading is to try to buy shares when they look godawful and sell them when the market decides things aren't as dire as they appeared. The old intestinal fortitude got a good workout this morning in the likes of BLY, TWE and AHZ, but all came good in the end.