Quiet start

12.30 pm The index is up 11 points in very quiet trade as the new financial year is providing a pause for thought. My books are flat and I've been taking positions off rather than initiating them. I think the index will continue to consolidate for a week or more so I don't think there's too much rush.

2.52 pm The urge to retrace kicked in and the index is now down 12 points. I'm out of most things, the best idea was to exit Origin at around Friday's close since it's now down 16 on fears of more supply from the Saudis.

4.23 pm A quiet day with a close at 6178, down 17. The small caps crept into the black with RWC gaining 7 to 543 though BKL was under pressure. I added a new long in Latin American Autos, an online car sale portal which has been improving as it moves to being cash flow positive. Long at 17 on a resumption.

I was long some Monadelphous from Friday and although I missed selling the early high, I continue to like the shape of the rally with another day in it to my mind. Although it sold off through the afternoon, it moved clearly higher on the day. The big picture is weaker but I wouldn't expect much resistance till 1600. I'm just looking for something above 1550. I added to the position at the closing price of 1514.

Regional markets are weak and so are US futures. With a lower high on our index today and the potential to fall to 6100 without changing the pattern, I left it at one long position and added a short in ASX which looked to have completed a wave up on Friday and slipped lower today. The trend is good so it's just a hedging trade.