daytrading may 1 afternoon

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    Thanks Endless.

    Half-time round-up:

    Australian stocks surged to a nine-month high this morning as a modest improvement in China's manufacturing sector and the prospect of an interest rate cut this afternoon offset soft Japanese equities.

    At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 32 points or 0.7% at 4428, a level last seen in early August. All sectors were trading ahead, led by gains in energy +1.7%, consumer staples +1.3% and health +0.9%.

    "A sustained move above the resistance, say through 4430, probably points to intrinsic strength and could portend a further rally," Thomson Reuters foreign exchange analyst Krishna Kumar told Fairfax.

    The market extended its gains after the 11am EST release of government manufacturing data for April in China. The report showed an up-tick in the purchasing managers' index from 53.1 in March to 53.3 last month, fractionally below economists' expectations.

    With most Asian markets closed for May Day holidays, most of the interest lay with Japan, which barely blinked after the Chinese report was released. The Nikkei was recently down 0.89%. Dow futures were up 23 points or 0.2%.

    The Reserve Bank was handed further cause to consider a cut to the cash rate at this afternoon's meeting after new data this morning showed declines in domestic manufacturing and house prices. The AiG/PWC Performance of Manufacturing Index slumped 5.6 index points to 43.9 in April. Capital city house prices declined 1.1% last quarter.

    Crude oil futures eased two cents this morning to US$104.84 a barrel. Spot gold was 80 cents stronger at US$1,665.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0418.


    So far so good. China's factory report safely navigated and a nice technical breakout underway in the index. I had a couple of minor wins in AQP and WEC but neither amounted to more than a day's wage.
 
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