DT January 4 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market inched to a new 19-month high in cautious trade as gains in the big banks and miners offset weakness in industrials.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was five points or 0.1% stronger at 5738 after a morning locked in a tight 12-point trading range. The index struggled to make headway after yesterday pre-empting overnight gains on Wall Street with a jump of 1.2%, breaking through overhead resistance at 5700 on below-average volume. Today declines in industrials -0.8%, IT -0.7% and small caps -0.3% were outweighed by gains in telecoms +0.9%, financials +0.7% and metals & mining +0.3%.

"Turnover through the Aussie market was predictably terrible yesterday at $3.74 billion (38% below the 30-day average) and that will likely be the case again today," IG's Chris Weston told Fairfax. "The trend in the ASX 200 is strong though and moves into 5700 should be supported and looking at the daily chart there are no red flags warranting more aggressive short positions just yet. Happy to stay long for now."

Japan's Nikkei led Asian markets higher, surging 2.05% following yesterday's market holiday. China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.01% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.28%. Dow futures were recently positive by 14 points or 0.07%.

Crude oil futures rebounded 31 cents or 0.59% this morning to US$52.64 a barrel. Gold futures declined $4.20 or 0.36% t0 US$1,157.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 72.3 US cents.


A predictably cautious session after yesterday's Great Leap Forward through 5700. Still no evidence of downward pressure yet. The bears must take longer holidays than the bulls. I guess the thinking is that global markets have plenty of breathing space before there is any threat of Trump-as-President disillusionment. Trading: another day, another doughnut. Been too careful so far this year. Added BUB, SMA and IOT to the watchlist to buy on retrace.