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Remember when Mad magazine used to have those fake "Department" gags? Well today a load of idiots had forgotten to register at the Don't Buy Good News at the Open Department, and went straight for the "How to Look Like an Absolute Amateur Idiot Without Even Trying" department.
Early buyers of Metabolic Pharmaceuticals (MBP +4.08%) got the "bad acid trip" feeling in the pit of the guts by mid-morning, and it got worse from there. As with all stocks that come out of trading halt on a Monday with apparently good news, the thing was the subject of massive "at market" buy orders in the pre-open. And guess where the high of the day was set?
That's right, campers... at the open. That's the precise reason why you should never buy the open - particularly on a Monday... let the nuffnuffs do their idiot act, then pick up whatever you're after 15 minutes later at lower prices.
Anyhow, MBP's news was pretty good - its anti-obesity drug works "better than the current alternatives, with fewer side effects".
Now as a perennial fat-lad, I know a few things about anti-obesity drugs... (Joe Gutnick used to send me faxes from his anti-fattie crowd).
One of the best things going - bar none- is the so-called "ECA" stack (Ephedrine, Caffeine and Aspirin, in the appropriate ratios... 20mg E, 100mg C and 5mg A for those playing at home).
The sole problem is that Ephedrine is also used in making speed (and crystal meth, too). From the pharma companies' perspective there's a bigger problem... nobody owns a patent on Ephedrine, and there's no money in generics.
But the really sick thing about it all, is that Ephedrine is not banned here because of its use an an input into speed; it's banned because truckies and other long-haul operators used to use it to stay awake. Every now and then one of them would forget his dose and would fall asleep at the wheel, and once or twice that resulted in third-party fatalities (like crashing into a bus full of pensioners or whatever... genuinely bad and sad stuff).
So the government response was to (pick an answer)...
(a) enforce driver-logging to prevent excessive hours (already a legal requirement, but ignored); or
(b) ban ephedrine.
If you picked (a), you're an idiot. As if the government was going to take on the TWU, and the likes of LinFox and Brambles and the other mobs that employ drivers in the full knowledge that the poor schlub has to drive 19 hours a day just to make the payments on his rig. Governments don't have balls like that... not on their best day
So the fatties of Australia will be forced to pay monopolistic prices for a patent medicine for their fattyness, instead of a very cheap generic fix via ECA. (Sure, you could just tell them to sit on an exercise bike instead of eating a whole packet of Tim Tams while watching Stargate... but I like Tim Tams and plus I can't hear the dialogue when I'm puffing so hard)...
Before you start trying to tell me about the side effects of ECA, do a Google search on the name "Astrup", who has done first-rate research since 1992 and shown it's completely safe.
I'm digressing again. Check out the chart of MBP... opened at its high tick, and closed at its low tick. An absolute case study in "Dumb Money at Work".
MBP Intraday Chart
Oxiana (OXR, +4.35%) and Ashanti signed a new JV to go exploring for gold in Laos.
Futuris (FCL +2.91%) - which led volume stats last Friday after AWB got rid of about 98m units - moved higher on no noticable news (could be that the charty types have bought last Friday on the basis of an apparent "reversal day" with an accompanying volume spike).
FCL Intraday Chart
Newcrest (NCM +2.76%) announced that the commissioning of its Telfer operations in Western Australia was proceeding according to plan. In fact, throughput rates were slightly better than the plant's "nameplate" capacity, with the plant consistently processing 1300t/hr of ore as compared with its quoted capacity of 1100 t/hr.
Major Market Indices
The market is quite clearly addicted to this "spurt at the open" palaver that it's been doing for the past few weeks - it's obviously hellish good fun for the index arb guys, who would be making some predictable money. That means we should expect it to stop... check out the chart, you can almost hear the groan as the market does its cookies in the first five minutes...
XAO Intraday Chart
The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders - rose by 8.90 points (0.43%), finishing at 2080.90 points. The major winners in the "big guns" were a couple of the old faves -
- News Corpse A (NWSLV), +$0.43 (1.86%) to $23.55 on volume of 6.85m shares;
- News Corpse B (NWS), +$0.39 (1.66%) to $23.89 on volume of 5.43m shares;
- Wesfarmers (WES), +$0.56 (1.54%) to $36.98 on volume of 542k shares;
- QBE Insurance (QBE), +$0.20 (1.44%) to $14.10 on volume of 741k shares; and
- BHP Billiton (BHP), +$0.18 (1.23%) to $14.86 on volume of 6.96m shares.
The following stocks formed the rearguard:
- Westfield Group (WDC), -$0.24 (1.51%) to $15.61 on volume of 3.85m shares;
- Amcor (AMC), -$0.07 (1%) to $6.90 on volume of 3.26m shares;
- Coles Myer (CML), -$0.09 (0.94%) to $9.47 on volume of 2.53m shares;
- Woolworths (WOW), -$0.10 (0.69%) to $14.45 on volume of 1.28m shares; and
- Westpac (WBC), -$0.03 (0.16%) to $18.62 on volume of 3.21m shares.
Meanwhile, the smaller end of the market's capitalisation scale - the ASX Small Ordinaries - fell by -6.80 points (-0.30%), finishing at 2250.10 points. The major winners in the "pop-guns" were -
- Circadian Tech (CIR), +$0.26 (11.98%) to $2.43 on volume of 712k shares;
- SP Telemedia (SOT), +$0.17 (8.67%) to $2.13 on volume of 155k shares;
- Antares Energy (AZZ), +$0.05 (7.35%) to $0.73 on volume of 1.09m shares;
- Supa Cheap (SUL), +$0.17 (5.65%) to $3.18 on volume of 76k shares; and
- Centennial Coal (CEY), +$0.20 (5.32%) to $3.96 on volume of 728k shares
Meanwhile the following stocks brought up the rear:
- Austral Coal (AUO), -$0.11 (15.94%) to $0.58 on volume of 8.73m shares;
- Minara Resources (MRE), -$0.15 (7.77%) to $1.78 on volume of 6.41m shares;
- Arc Energy (ARQ), -$0.08 (5.97%) to $1.26 on volume of 297k shares;
- Western Areas (WSA), -$0.08 (5.41%) to $1.40 on volume of 312k shares; and
- IOOF Holdings (IFL), -$0.42 (5.22%) to $7.62 on volume of 110k shares.
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| XAO | All Ordinaries | 3919.5 | 8.1 | 0.21% | 440.36m |
| XTL | S&P/ASX 20 | 2080.9 | 8.9 | 0.43% | 58.12m |
| XFL | S&P/ASX 50 | 3837.4 | 12.1 | 0.32% | 115.45m |
| XTO | S&P/ASX 100 | 3175.4 | 8.8 | 0.28% | 256.39m |
| XJO | S&P/ASX 200 | 3907.3 | 8.8 | 0.23% | 336.21m |
| XKO | S&P/ASX 300 | 3914 | 8.8 | 0.23% | 398.81m |
| XMD | S&P/ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 3885.5 | 1.2 | 0.03% | 140.94m |
| XSO | S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries | 2250.1 | -6.8 | -0.3% | 142.42m |
All Ordinaries Market Internals
Interesting. The money flow looks like it's going into the big end of the market, but under the hood - and further down the capitalisation spectrum - it looks like investors (and mug punters and their dumb cousins, the fund mis-managers) are ratcheting down their risk appetites. That's good (as a contrarian) because it means that the year-end rally becomes more likely.
| XAO | XSO | |
| Advances | 162 | 66 |
| Declines | 205 | 92 |
| Advancing Volume | 225.89m | 47.72m |
| Declining Volume | 137.03m | 53.06m |
Broad Market Internals
Extending to the broader market, the breadth setup looks even more like a circling of the wagons... probably in advance of the Fed's expected rate hike, which is the most-telegraphed in history... if Greenspan and his pack of central Onanists don't hike every meeting until next March, the market will (rightly) perceive that as evidence of Fed expectations of a weakening US economy. That will put the central wankers in their expected place - two years behind what everybody else already knows.
| Indicator | Level | +/- | % |
| Advances | 346 | -79 | -18.59 |
| Declines | 496 | 53 | 11.96 |
| Unchanged | 285 | 4 | 1.42 |
| Total Traded Value | 1790 | -1168 | -39.49 |
| New 52 Week Highs | 25 | 4 | 19.05 |
| New 52 Week Lows | 20 | 9 | 81.82 |
| Equity Call Option Volume | 28934 | 510 | 1.79 |
| Equity Put Option Volume | 20245 | -1039 | -4.88 |
S&P/ASX200 GICS Sector Indices
The top sector for the day was Materials which gained 0.72% to 6398.30 points. The sector was helped by
- Centennial Coal (CEY), +$0.20 (5.32%) to $3.96 on volume of 728k shares;
- Timbercorp (TIM), +$0.09 (4.55%) to $2.07 on volume of 1.72m shares;
- Oxiana (OXR), +$0.04 (4.35%) to $0.96 on volume of 6.68m shares;
- Excel Coal (EXL), +$0.16 (3.5%) to $4.73 on volume of 650k shares; and
- Newcrest Mining (NCM), +$0.44 (2.76%) to $16.40 on volume of 1.72m shares.
Second in the sector leadership stakes was Consumer Discretionary which gained 0.70% to 2376.10 points. The sector leaders were -
- APN News & Media (APN), +$0.12 (2.39%) to $5.15 on volume of 304k shares;
- News Corpse A (NWSLV), +$0.43 (1.86%) to $23.55 on volume of 6.85m shares;
- Macquarie Comm Infra (MCG), +$0.10 (1.83%) to $5.55 on volume of 1.97m shares;
- News Corpse B (NWS), +$0.39 (1.66%) to $23.89 on volume of 5.43m shares; and
- JB Hi-Fi (JBH), +$0.05 (1.37%) to $3.70 on volume of 300k shares.
The bronze today went to Healthcare which gained 0.51% to 4505.20 points. The sector was led by
- Peptech (PTD), +$0.09 (5%) to $1.89 on volume of 849k shares;
- Invocare (IVC), +$0.10 (3.23%) to $3.20 on volume of 184k shares;
- Ramsay Health Care (RHC), +$0.20 (2.9%) to $7.10 on volume of 148k shares;
- DCA Group (DVC), +$0.09 (2.58%) to $3.58 on volume of 1.33m shares; and
- Ansell (ANN), +$0.16 (1.75%) to $9.30 on volume of 992k shares.
The worst-performed sector today was Property Trusts which lost 0.80% to 1777.40 points. The sector was dragged lower by
- Thakral Holdings (THG), -$0.02 (2.7%) to $0.72 on volume of 419k shares;
- Investa Property Group (IPG), -$0.04 (1.88%) to $2.09 on volume of 1.92m shares;
- Westfield Group (WDC), -$0.24 (1.51%) to $15.61 on volume of 3.85m shares;
- Stockland (SGP), -$0.09 (1.5%) to $5.91 on volume of 2.35m shares; and
- James Fielding (JFG), -$0.04 (1.14%) to $3.46 on volume of 235k shares.
Just in front of the last place on the sector table was Utilities which lost 0.59% to 4256.70 points. The sector was pulled down by
- Gasnet Australia (GAS), -$0.09 (3.4%) to $2.56 on volume of 521k shares;
- Aust Pipeline (APA), -$0.07 (2.21%) to $3.10 on volume of 139k shares;
- Alinta (ALN), -$0.14 (1.84%) to $7.48 on volume of 2.29m shares;
- Energy Devs (ENE), -$0.05 (1.54%) to $3.20 on volume of 235k shares; and
- Aust Gas Light (AGL), -$0.03 (0.23%) to $12.85 on volume of 1.08m shares.
| Code | GICS Sector | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| XMJ | Materials | 6398.3 | 45.6 | 0.72% | 62.93m |
| XDJ | Consumer Discretionary | 2376.1 | 16.6 | 0.7% | 30.01m |
| XHJ | Healthcare | 4505.2 | 23 | 0.51% | 6.03m |
| XNJ | Industrials | 4662.4 | 19.9 | 0.43% | 32.63m |
| XIJ | Information Technology | 362.4 | 1.3 | 0.36% | 4.92m |
| XTJ | Telecommunications | 1744.9 | 6 | 0.35% | 7.88m |
| XXJ | ASX200 ex Property Trusts | 4650.2 | 9.5 | 0.2% | 80.85m |
| XFJ | Financials | 4654 | -1.1 | -0.02% | 140.71m |
| XEJ | Energy | 6699.7 | -22.4 | -0.33% | 17.32m |
| XSJ | Consumer Staples | 5382.3 | -21.1 | -0.39% | 25.89m |
| XUJ | Utilities | 4256.7 | -25.3 | -0.59% | 7.9m |
| XPJ | Property Trusts | 1777.4 | -14.3 | -0.8% | 59.85m |
All Ordinaries Volume Leaders
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| JRV | Jervois Mining | 0.024 | 0.01 | 50% | 289.89m |
| HHG | HHG Plc | 1.37 | 0.02 | 1.48% | 54.73m |
| ADY | Admiralty Resources | 0.041 | 0.01 | 20.59% | 38.07m |
| VPE | Victoria Petroleum | 0.04 | 0 | 5% | 23.43m |
| MBP | Metabolic Pharma | 2.04 | 0.08 | 4.08% | 15.41m |
All Ordinaries Top Gainers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| CAG | Cape Range | 0.047 | 0.01 | 34.29% | 15.32m |
| OMI | Occupational Med | 1.17 | 0.15 | 14.71% | 100529 |
| CIR | Circadian Tech | 2.43 | 0.26 | 11.98% | 712190 |
| SOT | SP Telemedia | 2.13 | 0.17 | 8.67% | 155024 |
| ALU | Altium | 0.335 | 0.03 | 8.06% | 35000 |
All Ordinaries Top Losers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| AUO | Austral Coal | 0.58 | -0.11 | -15.94% | 8.73m |
| SST | Steamships Tradg | 2.9 | -0.3 | -9.38% | 1283 |
| MRE | Minara Resources | 1.78 | -0.15 | -7.77% | 6.41m |
| ARA | Ariadne Australia | 0.38 | -0.03 | -7.32% | 46224 |
| IHG | Intellect Holdings | 0.028 | -0.002 | -6.67% | 716431 |
Elsewhere in the Region...
| Country | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| New Zealand | NZSE50 | 2986.183 | 4.29 | 0.14% | 14.46m |
| Japan | Nikkei 225 | 10791.96 | 35.16 | 0.33% | 49826 |
| Korea | KOSPI | 843.19 | -1.66 | -0.2% | 210177 |
| Singapore | Straits Times | 2011.75 | -4.58 | -0.23% | 46.67m |
| Hong Kong | Hang Seng | 13767.39 | -134.42 | -0.97% | 165.82m |
| Malaysia | KLSE Comp | 895.52 | 1.29 | 0.14% | 15.04m |
Main SFE Futures Contracts
| Code | Instrument | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
| SPI04Z | SPI200 Index SFE | 3907 | 10 | 0.26% | 44165 |
| IR04Z | 90-day Bank Bills SFE | 94.62 | -0.03 | -0.03% | 34330 |
| YT04Z | 3-yr Bond SFE | 95 | 0.01 | 0.01% | 198188 |
| XT04Z | 10-yr Bond SFE | 94.8 | -0.01 | -0.01% | 133668 |
