daytrading march 21 afternoon

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    Thanks Endless.

    Half-time round-up:

    Australian shares weakened for a second day following overnight falls in commodity prices, profit disappointments from retailers David Jones and Kathmandu and a downgraded growth outlook from a government agency.

    At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 12 points or 0.3% at 4262 after earlier falling as low as 2440. Resource stocks accounted for much of the falls, with the metals & mining sector down 0.9% and gold stocks 1% after BHP yesterday warned that Chinese iron ore demand was slowing. The consumer discretionary sector fell 0.6% after David Jones and Kathmandu reported first-half profit falls.

    "A soft-landing scenario remains the most likely outcome for China, and in that there is no change," an RBC Capital Markets strategist told MarketWatch. "What has appeared to change is the market's appreciation of the deceleration in growth that a soft-landing scenario entails and the reduced demand that comes with it."

    Growth in Australia is likely to slow as commodity prices are undermined by the sluggish global outlook, the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics warned in its quarterly report this morning. The government agency predicts growth will slow from 3.8% to 3% next fiscal year.

    "In 2012, commodity prices are expected to continue to ease given the current lower than expected growth in the global economy," the report quoted on MarketWatch said.

    Japan's Nikkei played catch-up after a public holiday yesterday but recently pared early losses to trade 0.31% lower as US futures improved. Shanghai inched up 0.21% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.05%. Dow futures were recently up 37 points or 0.3%.

    Spot gold rallied $4.50 this morning to US$1,653.60 an ounce. Crude oil futures were flat at US$105.68 a barrel. The dollar was buying US$1.0516.


    A couple of nice rebound opportunities this morning in DJS and MML. Also caught KAS at the low.
 
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