Daytrading September 8 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

A broad sell-off pushed shares to an eight-week low before a partial rebound this morning.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 49 points or 0.9% weaker at 5375 after earlier touching 5358, the index's lowest point since mid-July. No sector was left unscathed, with the heaviest falls coming in gold -2.2%, metals & mining -1.9% and energy -1.6%. Analysts were lost for an explanation for the scale of the sell-off, beyond general fatigue following the July rally to a one-year high.

“The market is losing momentum,” Bernard Aw, strategist at IG Asia, told Bloomberg. “Investors are probably looking for fresh catalysts that may come in the form of additional stimulus from the European Central Bank or Bank of Japan.”

Losses on Asian markets were more restrained. China's Shanghai Composite dipped 0.13% and Japan's Nikkei 0.34%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 0.19%. Dow futures were recently up one point or 0.01%.

Crude oil futures rallied 83 cents or 1.82% this morning to US$46.33 a barrel. Gold futures were $2 or 0.15% stronger at US$1,351.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.69 US cents.


No glaring reason for today's sell-off beyond seasonal factors (weakest month of the year) and what looks like a developing downtrend after a month-long distribution phrase. May be more of this to come. Would like to see a successful test of the up-trend line since January, then a bounce. Trading: sadly not yet. Placed plenty of orders but have been a pip or two shy of an entry every time. 'No buy' days are frustrating, but it's better to be stubborn about your entry levels than plunge and take home a loss.