Unicorn hunting today on the S&P/ASX 200 Index, even though Fairfax (FXJ) had its day, up over 10%, the local bourse down nearly 1% or 37 points to 4225 points.
The market has just broken below its new year uptrend, bouncing off strong resistance at the 4300 point level, possibly heading to rising support at 4100 points, as the market continues its sideways move:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is basically flat up 4 points to 8807 points, the Hang Seng similarly pancake like, up 4 points to 20395, with the Shanghai Composite currently down 0.5% on mixed data to 2282 points.
The AUD remains strong, staying above 1.06 against the USD, currently at 1.0613 whilst WTI crude was flat staying at $98.60USD a barrel. Gold continued the flat meme, rising 10 cents during the Asian session, currently at $1740USD an ounce but actually up in AUD, at $1637 AUD per ounce.
Movers and Shakers
A basically red day according to the sectors, with only healthcare (i.e CSL) and discretionary stocks (i.e Fairfax) up, the main falls in energy and materials stocks (i.e BHP).
Checking out the ASX8 (the top four banks and miners), ANZ was down 0.6%, its recent breakout fading whilst the big brother of banks, the Commonwealth (CBA) also slipped, losing 0.3% remaining below $51 a share, for the fourth day in a row.
I’ll be speaking about the upcoming earnings results for Commonwealth Bank on ABC’s The Business, at 8.30pm AEDST on ABC24.
National Australia Bank (NAB) fell 1% looking weaker by the day, and finally Westpac (WBC) was the worst, down nearly 1.5%, bouncing off its 200 day moving average and returning to a neutral stance.
Quickly checking out Macquarie (MQG), the Millionaire Factory has retraced below its recent breakout, down almost 2%
To the holes, where BHP Billiton (BHP) broke below its short term uptrend, a harbinger for the broader index:
Its “twin” Rio Tinto (RIO), slipped 0.5%, giving back yesterdays gains and also looking close to reversing. Gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) did the same, whilst Fortescue (FMG) fell over 1% on news an investor had pulled out, and is just below the $5 psychological barrier.
To finish out the ASX8, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) fell 0.6%, its short term uptrend under threat with short term resistance zone around the $34 mark.
The overnight futures for the ASX200 are flat (funnily enough), and other equity futures are mixed, with weak leads from Asia going into the European session.