Daytrading Sep 4 afternoon

Thanks Haplo - get well mate.

Half-time round-up:

Shares eased for the first time this week as solid economic data failed to inspire buyers during a downbeat morning on regional markets.  

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 30 points or 0.5% weaker at 5626, erasing the week's gains as a broad retreat undercut all sectors except consumer staples +0.1%. The falls were heaviest in the gold sector -1.2%, IT -1.1%, property trusts -0.9%, telecoms -0.8% and financials -0.7%.

Retail sales increased by a seasonally-adjusted 0.4% during July, in line with expectations. A 1% increase in exports helped reduce the trade deficit to $1.36 billion from $1.56 billion in June, defying expectations for an increase to about $1.75 billion.
  
Most Asian markets pared recent gains. China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.06%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.25% and Japan's Nikkei lost 0.15%. Emini Dow futures were recently down one point or less than 0.1%.

Crude oil futures rallied eight cents this morning to US$95.13 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.70 firmer at US$1,272 an ounce. The dollar was buying 93.48 US cents.


Geez, hasn't PSY been phenomenal these last few weeks? Can't believe I missed the breakout. My trading was restricted this morning because I rely so heavily on price alerts that without them I'm incapable of independent thought. The audio on the PC was playing up, so the alerts were reduced to miming while I shouted guesses at the screen: "You're climbing a ladder? You're trapped in a box? You want me to buy GCN?" GUD was my sort of buy - three days of selling and a fall to a support level add up to a fair chance of a reversal. Now all I have to do is convince the share to think the same way. CBQ came very good from Tuesday. CXZ? Oh dear. Also dumped BLK from yesterday for beer money.