MarketRant: OzRant: Another Burst From the Blocks...

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Major Market Indices

Another "burst out of the blocks, then fade for the rest of the session" kind of day. This is a market that's behaving like it really needs a rest, but there are a lot of vested interests who think that weight of money can forestall the inevitable 10-15% pullback that's going to happen (soon).

Check out the chart - and notice below (the chart down in the Futures area) that the SPI was well and truly leading (nay, driving) the market up until they failed at an attempted test of 4100.

All Ordinaries Intraday 5 minute chart

(Click Image to Enlarge)

The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders - fell by -9.50 points (-0.44%), finishing at 2146.40 points. The major winners in the "big guns" were -

QBE (QBE), +$0.24 (1.56%) to $15.58 on volume of 1.76m shares;
Woodside (WPL), +$0.27 (1.32%) to $20.70 on volume of 1.03m shares;
Amcor (AMC), +$0.03 (0.41%) to $7.39 on volume of 2.97m shares;
AMP (AMP), +$0.03 (0.41%) to $7.43 on volume of 4.64m shares; and
BHP Billiton (BHP), +$0.01 (0.07%) to $15.33 on volume of 8.44m shares.

By and large it was an ordinary day for the banks, who helped drag the overall market lower.

ANZ Bank (ANZ), -$0.27 (1.3%) to $20.47 on volume of 2.95m shares;
Westpac (WBC), -$0.24 (1.24%) to $19.14 on volume of 3.39m shares;
Westfield (WDC), -$0.18 (1.05%) to $17.04 on volume of 5.42m shares;
Telstra Corporation (TLS), -$0.05 (1.01%) to $4.88 on volume of 20.16m shares; and
Coles Myer (CML), -$0.05 (0.53%) to $9.44 on volume of 3.85m shares.

At the smaller end of the market's capitalisation scale, the ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) rose by 14.00 points (0.60%), finishing at 2347.00 points. The major winners in the "pop-guns" were -

Hardman (HDR), +$0.11 (6.63%) to $1.77 on volume of 14.05m shares;
Agenix (AGX), +$0.03 (6%) to $0.53 on volume of 35,000 shares;
Arc Energy (ARQ), +$0.08 (4.85%) to $1.73 on volume of 389,000 shares;
GRD (GRD), +$0.11 (4.37%) to $2.63 on volume of 39,000 shares; and
McGuigan Wines (MGW), +$0.24 (4.15%) to $6.02 on volume of 993,000 shares.

The biggest losers for the day in the small-caps included

Kingsgate (KCN), -$0.10 (3.75%) to $2.57 on volume of 89,000 shares;
Croesus (CRS), -$0.02 (3.51%) to $0.55 on volume of 2.68m shares;
Perilya (PEM), -$0.03 (3.23%) to $0.90 on volume of 367,000 shares; and
Norwood Abbey (NAL), -$0.02 (3.23%) to $0.60 on volume of 109,000 shares.

Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
XAO	All Ordinaries	4069.1	0.8	0.02%	0
XTL	S&P/ASX 20	2146.4	-9.5	-0.44%	0
XFL	S&P/ASX 50	3984.8	-7.6	-0.19%	0
XTO	S&P/ASX 100	3306.1	-2.5	-0.08%	0
XJO	S&P/ASX 200	4069.5	-0.9	-0.02%	0
XKO	S&P/ASX 300	4075.9	-0.7	-0.02%	0
XMD	S&P/ASX Mid-Cap 50	4109.5	24.1	0.59%	0
XSO	S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries	2347	14	0.6%	0

All Ordinaries Market Internals

	XAO	XSO
Advances	226	106
Declines	148	50
Advancing Volume	229.81m	83.76m
Declining Volume	171.6m	35.17m

Broad Market Internals

Indicator	Level	+/-	%
Advances	494	67	15.69
Declines	381	-60	-13.61
Unchanged	319	25	8.5
Total Traded Value	2558	-20	-0.78
New 52 Week Highs	53	8	17.78
New 52 Week Lows	10	-3	-23.08
Equity Call Option Volume	39499	-1903	-4.6
Equity Put Option Volume	29213	-5187	-15.08

S&P/ASX200 GICS Sector Indices

The top sector for the day was Energy which gained 1.87% to 7232.10 points. The sector was helped by the overnight move in Crude (notwithstanding the obvious chicanery that happened in the rude futures). Stocks that led the sector today included

Hardman (HDR), +$0.11 (6.63%) to $1.77 on volume of 14.05m shares;
Oil Search (OSH), +$0.10 (5.43%) to $1.94 on volume of 10.37m shares;
Arc Energy (ARQ), +$0.08 (4.85%) to $1.73 on volume of 389,000 shares;
Roc Oil (ROC), +$0.06 (3.3%) to $1.88 on volume of 1.01m shares; and
Caltex (CTX), +$0.22 (2.04%) to $10.98 on volume of 368,000 shares.

Oil Search went birko for no genuinely apparent reason - of course energy generally was pretty strong thanks to overnight recovery in Crude prices. OSH released an update regarding several fields in which it has operations (Kapul 1 in Papua, and Al Ahkaf 1 and Nabrajah-4 in Yemen), but there was so little of consequence in the update that it appears that the price action was driven solely by the idea that "there's an announcement coming"... typical chat-room ramping of the type not seen since mid-2000.

Second in the sector leadership stakes was Information Technology which gained 1.31% to 401.90 points. The sector leaders were -

MYOB (MYO), +$0.03 (2.42%) to $1.27 on volume of 1.7m shares;
Baycorp (BCA), +$0.06 (1.9%) to $3.22 on volume of 126,000 shares;
Iress (IRE), +$0.06 (1.56%) to $3.90 on volume of 32,000 shares;
Computershare (CPU), +$0.09 (1.51%) to $6.04 on volume of 3.2m shares; and
Vision (VSL), +$0.02 (1.42%) to $1.43 on volume of 318,000 shares.

The bronze today went to Utilities which gained 0.49% to 4593.50 points. The sector was led by

Duet (DUE), +$0.06 (2.41%) to $2.55 on volume of 1.62m shares;
Pacific Hydro (PHY), +$0.07 (1.73%) to $4.12 on volume of 120,000 shares;
Energy Developments (ENE), +$0.04 (1.19%) to $3.40 on volume of 121,000 shares;
AGL (AGL), +$0.11 (0.8%) to $13.92 on volume of 500,000 shares; and
Alinta (ALN), -$0.00 (0%) to $8.57 on volume of 357,000 shares.

The worst-performed sector today was Telecommunications which lost 0.89% to 1746.90 points. The sector was dragged lower by Telstra (really, the sector is Telstra - Telecom NZ can't compete with Telstra in terms of market cap and therefore sector weighting).

Telstra Corporation (TLS), -$0.05 (1.01%) to $4.88 on volume of 20.16m shares.

The other member of the "sector" - the 2-stock group that passes for a telecommunications industry group - was in the green today: Telecom NZ (TEL) rose $0.06 (1.05%) to $5.75 on volume of 626,000 shares.

Just in front of the last place on the sector table was Property Trusts which lost 0.30% to 1869.40 points. The sector was pulled down by

BWP Trust (BWP), -$0.03 (1.67%) to $1.77 on volume of 145,000 shares;
Thakral (THG), -$0.01 (1.32%) to $0.75 on volume of 522,000 shares;
Westfield (WDC), -$0.18 (1.05%) to $17.04 on volume of 5.42m shares;
Investor Property Group (IPG), -$0.02 (0.86%) to $2.30 on volume of 1.34m shares; and
Centro (CNP), -$0.03 (0.55%) to $5.38 on volume of 3.36m shares.

Code	GICS Sector	Close	+/-	%	Volume
XEJ	Energy	7232.1	132.8	1.87%	32.97m
XIJ	Information Technology	401.9	5.2	1.31%	7.43m
XUJ	Utilities	4593.5	22.2	0.49%	39.71m
XDJ	Consumer Discretionary	2391.2	10.2	0.43%	88.88m
XNJ	Industrials	4958.4	9.2	0.19%	3.11m
XMJ	Materials	6682.3	10	0.15%	89.2m
XSJ	Consumer Staples	5516.9	-9.5	-0.17%	20.79m
XHJ	Healthcare	4708	-12.4	-0.26%	31.04m
XXJ	ASX200 ex Property Trusts	4862.2	-13.3	-0.27%	7.33m
XFJ	Financials	4872.6	-13.6	-0.28%	54.6m
XPJ	Property Trusts	1869.4	-5.6	-0.3%	44.66m
XTJ	Telecommunications	1746.9	-15.6	-0.89%	32.52m

All Ordinaries Volume Leaders

I have to say that the Volume Leaders list reminds me more and more of 99/00, when Deepgreen Minerals (DGM, which became Kidz.net via the usual back-door method of the time) routinely traded tens of millions of units a day, mostly by people whose mindset was more suited to the interior of a TAB. It's worrisome to see the same trends emerging, considering that there has never been a real fair dinkum cleanout of the market (that said, our market - despite its penny dreadful ramp-fest at the bottom end of the cap scale - is not exorbitantly priced).

Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
LIO	Lion Energy	0.011	0.001	10%	118.28m
VSG	Visiomed	0.041	0.01	32.26%	88.39m
PNO	Pharmanet	0.072	0.003	4.35%	39.9m
MRX	Matrix Met	0.07	-0.045	-39.13%	36.77m
RRS	Range Resources	0.033	-0.004	-10.81%	27.29m

All Ordinaries Top Gainers

Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
TIR	Titan Resources	0.12	0.02	15%	2.24m
QPX	QPSX	0.12	0.02	14.29%	745467
PLT	Polartechnics	0.4	0.05	12.86%	243150
PNA	Pan Aust Resources	0.19	0.02	12.12%	12.09m
ASL	Ausdrill	0.61	0.04	7.02%	564632

All Ordinaries Top Losers

Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
BOC	Bougainville	0.5	-0.04	-7.41%	170000
IHG	Intellect Holindgs	0.028	-0.002	-6.67%	2.91m
HLD	Homeleisure	0.33	-0.02	-5.71%	289561
LOK	Looksmart	2.39	-0.11	-4.4%	114003
IGO	Independence Group	1.16	-0.05	-4.13%	503347

Elsewhere in the Region...

The Kiwi Market advanced 14.27 points (0.47%) to yet another record. Seems that the sleepy little sheep-and-dairy farm across the Tasman is getting ahead of itself. Individual stocks that helped the NZSE-50 included...

Hellaby Holdings (HBY), +$0.15 (2.31%) to $6.65 on volume of 3,000 shares;
Fisher & Paykel (FPH), +$0.07 (2.21%) to $3.24 on volume of 286,000 shares;
Sky City Entertainment (SKC), +$0.10 (1.92%) to $5.32 on volume of 3.17m shares;
Baycorp Advantage (BCA), +$0.05 (1.45%) to $3.50 on volume of 104,000 shares;
Independent Newspapers (INL), +$0.07 (1.26%) to $5.62 on volume of 198,000 shares; and
AMP Limited (AMP), +$0.10 (1.25%) to $8.10 on volume of 34,000 shares.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 26.39 points (0.19%). Individual stocks that contributed to the advance included...

Cathay Pacific Air (0293), +$0.25 (1.79%) to $14.20 on volume of 8.96m shares;
Hang Lung Properties (0101), +$0.15 (1.33%) to $11.45 on volume of 6.27m shares;
Li & Fung (0494), +$0.15 (1.23%) to $12.30 on volume of 4.2m shares;
Hutchison (0013), +$0.75 (1.08%) to $70.00 on volume of 10.83m shares;
Cheung Kong (0001), +$0.75 (1.04%) to $72.75 on volume of 4.98m shares; and
Wharf Holdings (0004), +$0.25 (0.99%) to $25.60 on volume of 3.14m shares.

Country	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
New Zealand	NZSE50	3072.933	14.27	0.47%	17.66m
Japan	Nikkei 225	11372.76	-80.63	-0.7%	51139
Korea	KOSPI	878.95	-1.08	-0.12%	240494
Singapore	Straits Times	2084.12	4.32	0.21%	79.95m
Hong Kong	Hang Seng	13591.7	26.39	0.19%	177.05m
Malaysia	KLSE Comp	933.42	0.09	0.01%	50.95m

Main SFE Futures Contracts

The SPI also fell for a "pop'n'drop", touching 4097 as nuffie traders got all twitterpated with the idea of a breach of 4100. Well, it didn't happen; in fact as can be seen, once the opening orgasm in the cash market was finished, the whole thing just went limp and tried to roll over and go to sleep.

SPI Intraday 5 minute chart