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First, some pre-Rant ranting...
Did anybody see how the Productivity Commission spent a fortune of tax-rape-victim's money to show that demographic trends spell the death of Social Security in its current form?
God Stab my Vitals... all they had to do was wait for me to write about it (in this very space, about 2 days ago) and they could've sacked all those half-wits they employ. Plus, there would've been less pansy-assed equivocation in the analysis.
Are they a sheltered workshop, or what? Talk about statingthe bloody obvious. What's next? A $10 million study to discover that it rarely rains in Camooweal?
Major Market Indices
Another day, another record. Everybody is now engaged in a game of pass the parcel - and hope nobody hears the ticking.
A lot of this is driven my "me-too"-ism in the funds mis-management industry; these overpaid duds face limited futures if they deviate from the crowd (unless they outperform, which is so unlikely as to be not worth considering)... so basically every "active" equities manager is basically an index manager with a couple of "overweights".
Like the clown who used to run portfolios for BT, and wound up with 120 million One.Tel shares; then finds out that if you're managing a supertanker you can't just get out when the thing turns. Still, he left with a 7-figure golden parachute, and only the unitholders were unhappy.
The index started out looking a bit sad, but changed its mind (in a big way) at about 10:30 a.m. Australian time. Little do they know that the US is about to change its mind, unless I miss my guess...
All Ordinaries (ASX:XAO) 5-minute intraday chart
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| XAO | All Ordinaries | 3922.9 | 8.1 | 0.21% | 629.04m |
| XTL | S&P/ASX 20 | 2084.9 | 6.4 | 0.31% | 159.43m |
| XFL | S&P/ASX 50 | 3840.8 | 10.2 | 0.27% | 292.98m |
| XTO | S&P/ASX 100 | 3174 | 8 | 0.25% | 397.92m |
| XJO | S&P/ASX 200 | 3912.1 | 7.9 | 0.2% | 510.85m |
| XKO | S&P/ASX 300 | 3921.5 | 7.7 | 0.2% | 582.08m |
| XMD | S&P/ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 3852.4 | 7 | 0.18% | 104.95m |
| XSO | S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries | 2310.5 | -9.4 | -0.41% | 184.16m |
Market Internals (All Ordinaries Stocks)
Despite the headline numbers, more stocks in the All Ords fell than rose for the session. Volume was concentrated in the gainers by a ratio of 32 to 19.
| Advances | 178 |
| Declines | 184 |
| Advancing Volume | 320035434 |
| Declining Volume | 190138334 |
S&P/ASX200 GICS Sector Indices
The continued strength in oil prices - and the "dumb money" trying to buy BHP at a high - gave some additional pep to the Energy and Materials sectors, while the higher-risk (by assumption rather than analysis) Information Tech sector was the worst performed.
| Code | GICS Sector | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| XEJ | Energy | 7209.5 | 72.2 | 1.01% | 50.53m |
| XMJ | Materials | 6582.3 | 30.8 | 0.47% | 158.58m |
| XNJ | Industrials | 4683.4 | -10.2 | -0.22% | 66.4m |
| XDJ | Consumer Discretionary | 2307.3 | -2.9 | -0.13% | 42.75m |
| XSJ | Consumer Staples | 5361.6 | 50 | 0.94% | 41.57m |
| XHJ | Healthcare | 4383.8 | 43.2 | 1% | 10.86m |
| XFJ | Financials | 4630.4 | -1.8 | -0.04% | 104.79m |
| XIJ | Information Technology | 366.3 | -3.1 | -0.84% | 5.57m |
| XTJ | Telecommunications | 1724.5 | 14 | 0.82% | 25.11m |
| XUJ | Utilities | 4318 | -5.4 | -0.12% | 4.69m |
| XPJ | Property Trusts | 1762.2 | 7.3 | 0.42% | 41.98m |
| XXJ | ASX200 ex Property Trusts | 4631.5 | -7.8 | -0.17% | 62.81m |
All Ordinaries Volume Leaders
It looks like it's official - BHP Billiton is the new News Corpse. Obviously having an overseas listed analog yields arb possibilities - of which more at some future date.
Telstra's insto shareholders appear to be over their little hissy-fit about Ziggy Stardust's non-exit. Considering that TLS generates the largest free cash flow of any stock listed, they ought to have been positioning themselves in it, regardless of which quasi-politician is at "the helm".
To guess the rest of the major turnover list is hardly an IQ test; large-cap oil & gas stocks and gold stocks.
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| BHP | BHP Billiton | 15.4 | 0.23 | 1.52% | 31.36m |
| TLS | Telstra | 4.85 | 0.04 | 0.83% | 22.94m |
| WMR | WMC Resources | 7.26 | 0.01 | 0.14% | 21.4m |
| STO | Santos | 8.86 | 0.05 | 0.57% | 19.89m |
| LHG | Lihir Gold | 1.30 | 0.01 | 0.78% | 19.03m |
All Ordinaries Top 5 % Gainers
The fast-gainers are all the types of stocks that have gone gangbusters in recent months; fast moving, thinly (relatively) traded... good for a pump in a chat-room.
The fact that this sort of crap has re-surfaced is yet another indication of an impending market top.
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| PWT | Powertel | 1.47 | 0.18 | 13.95% | 562186 |
| PEPR | Peplin Rights | 0.02 | 0.002 | 11.11% | 491070 |
| BBB | B Digital | 0.405 | 0.03 | 8% | 465080 |
| LYC | Lynas Corp | 0.38 | 0.03 | 7.04% | 421076 |
| MOS | Mosaic Oil | 0.255 | 0.02 | 6.25% | 10m |
All Ordinaries Top 5 % Losers
Man, HWE has taken an absolute hammering in recent times; have a look at the chart...
Henry Walker Eltin (ASX:HWE) Daily Chart
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| HWE | Henry Walker Eltin | 0.47 | -0.04 | -7.84% | 13.3m |
| ALK | Alkane | 0.21 | -0.02 | -6.82% | 324862 |
| AGX | Agenix | 0.58 | -0.04 | -6.45% | 520997 |
| PSV | Persever Corp | 0.39 | -0.02 | -4.88% | 4.17m |
| EOS | Electro Optic | 3.35 | -0.15 | -4.29% | 37350 |
Elsewhere in the Region...
With the exception of the Nikkei and the KOSPI, the region had another pretty good day.
The Japanese seem to be acclimatising the the reality of a stronger Yen, although exprters were not particularly strong.
| Country | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| New Zealand | NZSE50 | 2968.493 | 9.46 | 0.32% | 23.5m |
| Japan | Nikkei 225 | 10846.86 | -53.48 | -0.49% | 53683 |
| Korea | KOSPI | 858.83 | -13.66 | -1.57% | 260186 |
| Singapore | Straits Times | 2040.34 | 5.46 | 0.27% | 35.9m |
| Hong Kong | Hang Seng | 13971.51 | 44.9 | 0.32% | 217.53m |
| Malaysia | KLSE Comp | 910.12 | 4.9 | 0.54% | 66.09m |
Main SFE Futures Contracts
| Code | Instrument | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| SPI04Z | SPI200 Index SFE | 3922 | 10 | 0.26% | 9208 |
| IR04Z | 90-day Bank Bills SFE | 94.63 | 0.01 | 0.01% | 80404 |
| YT04Z | 3-yr Bond SFE | 94.94 | -0.01 | -0.01% | 90373 |
| XT04Z | 10-yr Bond SFE | 94.74 | 0 | 0% | 27922 |
Australian Economic Data Calendar
| Monday, November 29, 2004 | ||||
| Local/GMT/ET | Period | Data | Expected | Previous% |
| 1130/0030/1930 | 3Q | Current Account | -$11.97B | |
| 1130/0030/1930 | 3Q | Company Profits | 10.3% | |
| 1130/0030/1930 | 3Q | Business Inventories | 1.1% |
| Tuesday, November 30, 2004 | ||||
| Local/GMT/ET | Period | Data | Expected | Previous% |
| 1130/0030/1930 | Oct | Building Approvals | -na- | -3.8% |
| 1130/0030/1930 | Oct | Retail Trade | -na- | 0.8% |
| 1130/0030/1930 | Oct | Private Sector Credit | -na- | 0.9% |
