Is it ALS or ALQ?
11.42 pm The confusingly coded ALQ which refers to a company named ALS limited reported yesterday and the report seemed very good to me but the stock continued to sell off. The three analyst summaries that I saw this morning suggested they were impressed with the result and the stock has bounced right back today to be up 26 at 744. I've bought on the way up at three different levels to be in at an average price of 737.
The chart itself shows a strong stock which may well have completed a correction with yesterday's weak performance closing a gap to around 720.
Otherwise, the market is lower by 35 points but I've eked out some gains despite BTT being a tick lower, DOW being 1.6% off and STO also a fraction lower. However, I had a short in FMG which is lower on a lost native title claim and general weakness in the iron ore stocks after a good run. I also took a quick turn on a long position in SYD.
I suspect I need to exit DOW as these are short term trades and it looks as if the stock has died on its run. I've already sold a quarter out at 619.
12.21 pm The market is driving down again and I have to say I'm getting fed up with the lack of direction. Here's the latest ASX 200 chart.
There's a suggestion that the sell off is due to more Trump/Russia speculation which will be yet another non-story. The only smoking gun - the mysterious death of Seth Rich - goes unreported in Australia but time and again we sell off on a media beat up only to rebound when the US market ignores it, recognising it as another act in a political circus.
12.57 pm RBA Deputy Governor Debelle has come to the rescue with observations about inflation, growth and rate expectations, hosing down fears of sharp rate rises. The AUD has fallen a cent taking the pressure off the market and we've seen a bounce of 25 points though the index is still 0.5% lower.
2.05 pm The ASX 200 is down a mere 11 points now after Debelle's speech and the AUD has held below US 79 cents.
JHG's fall was almost entirely currency based and hence it's rebounding today. It's a salutary lesson about taking trades where the stop is a long way distant. It held support yesterday, made a higher low and is back up just over 1% today. I'm still long this and hope for a move back to 4400 shortly, which is only my entry level but it's likely to pause there.
Otherwise, I've sold some ALQ at 751 and that is compensating for weakness in my other longs.
2.43 pm Star Group is recovering after chopping lower all week. Today's action has traded lower then reversed to be above yesterday's range. Looks pretty hopeful for another leg up and I've bought a few at 527.
3.29 pm We've swung back down, lower by 38 points. SGR is back to 521 so I went too early but have more on the bid at 519.
Otherwise, I have a few potential shorts in infrastructure and resources to balance the book but will wait for later, just as likely to swing up again before the close.
4.19 pm Well, July has been a tricky month so far. I broke even today which was a reasonable result given I was net long and none of my positions really fired except a short in FMG which was not large. Got out of DOW, held BTT, bought and sold ALQ well and stayed long a few. Held JHG and got back into SGR including a few more at 519, it finished at 520. Oh, and sold most of the STO at 327, the entry price as it didn't go again despite upgrades.
For most of the month, I've felt there was a good chance of a sell off towards 5600 but there have been too many failed attempts, very few serious profit warnings and buoyant global markets. I now think we'll break to the upside. Whichever way it goes, it'll go hard as the damn breaks.
The chart itself shows a strong stock which may well have completed a correction with yesterday's weak performance closing a gap to around 720.
Otherwise, the market is lower by 35 points but I've eked out some gains despite BTT being a tick lower, DOW being 1.6% off and STO also a fraction lower. However, I had a short in FMG which is lower on a lost native title claim and general weakness in the iron ore stocks after a good run. I also took a quick turn on a long position in SYD.
I suspect I need to exit DOW as these are short term trades and it looks as if the stock has died on its run. I've already sold a quarter out at 619.
12.21 pm The market is driving down again and I have to say I'm getting fed up with the lack of direction. Here's the latest ASX 200 chart.
12.57 pm RBA Deputy Governor Debelle has come to the rescue with observations about inflation, growth and rate expectations, hosing down fears of sharp rate rises. The AUD has fallen a cent taking the pressure off the market and we've seen a bounce of 25 points though the index is still 0.5% lower.
2.05 pm The ASX 200 is down a mere 11 points now after Debelle's speech and the AUD has held below US 79 cents.
JHG's fall was almost entirely currency based and hence it's rebounding today. It's a salutary lesson about taking trades where the stop is a long way distant. It held support yesterday, made a higher low and is back up just over 1% today. I'm still long this and hope for a move back to 4400 shortly, which is only my entry level but it's likely to pause there.
Otherwise, I've sold some ALQ at 751 and that is compensating for weakness in my other longs.
3.29 pm We've swung back down, lower by 38 points. SGR is back to 521 so I went too early but have more on the bid at 519.
Otherwise, I have a few potential shorts in infrastructure and resources to balance the book but will wait for later, just as likely to swing up again before the close.
4.19 pm Well, July has been a tricky month so far. I broke even today which was a reasonable result given I was net long and none of my positions really fired except a short in FMG which was not large. Got out of DOW, held BTT, bought and sold ALQ well and stayed long a few. Held JHG and got back into SGR including a few more at 519, it finished at 520. Oh, and sold most of the STO at 327, the entry price as it didn't go again despite upgrades.
For most of the month, I've felt there was a good chance of a sell off towards 5600 but there have been too many failed attempts, very few serious profit warnings and buoyant global markets. I now think we'll break to the upside. Whichever way it goes, it'll go hard as the damn breaks.
Comments
Post a Comment