daytrading sep 8 afternoon

Thanks Endless. Half-time round-up:

A jump in the jobless rate to a 10-month high curtailed a second day of gains for the ASX as key regional markets faltered.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 13 points or 0.3% at 4170 after earlier trading as high as 4219. Energy stocks +0.5%, IT companies +0.3% and small caps +0.3% were among a handful of sectors to resist a downturn after news of an increase in unemployment last month broke at 11.30 am AEST. Banks, consumer stocks and miners all turned negative.

The economy lost 12,600 full-time jobs last month and added only 2,900 part-time positions as unemployment increased by 0.2% to 5.3%. The news sent the dollar down around half a cent to trade recently at US$1.0583.

"It's a different outcome than what the Reserve Bank had been anticipating," Brian Redican, senior economist at Macquarie Bank, told Fairfax. "If the economy's going below trend and unemployment is rising, you certainly don't need interest rates above neutral. The next move is down. Our forecast is for a cut in February but if there is another couple of months of this kind of rise, then it could be sooner."

US futures retreated as Asian markets also struggled to hold on to early gains. Japan's Nikkei was ahead 0.47% but Shanghai fell 0.14% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.73%. Dow futures were recently down 34 points or 0.3%.

Crude oil futures dropped 66 cents this morning to US$89.46 a barrel. Spot gold was $10.30 stronger at US$1,830.10 an ounce.


What a fizzer. This economy has been sending mixed signals lately but those unemployment numbers were unequivocal. Ouch. Can't say I envy Glenn Stevens. And I don't just mean his big, baldy melon. Difficult trading conditions, with few of the early bolters holding their ground. I managed a scalp in MOZ and began building positions in LSR and IVR on pullback. A seller of LSR gave a masterclass in how not to sold a large holding - spooked the sell queue at 14 and finished up selling at 12. Entertaining but dumb.