OzRant: No Fade This Friday...

Note - from June 24th 2009, this blog has migrated from Blogger to a self-hosted version. Click here to go straight there.

The investment world seems to be getting things completely arse-backwards at the moment. Slowing economic growth is just dandy - because it will make the Soviet planners at the major central banks take their hands off the tightening levers. So what? In that case, why not celebrate every recession - after all, that's when monetary policy is the most accommodative.

In fact, with the toxic combination of inflated property and stock index valuations, consumer debt burdens at historically high proportions of post-tax income, and falling real wages in several of the globe's largest economies, it's not clear to me why everyone's not buying ammo and building a fallout shelter. Still, you work with the numbers that the ticker spits out, and "that's yer blimmin' lot", as the chap on Gardening Australia says.

Still, I doubt that there will be anywhere safe to hide when the next fan-splat happens; I can't think of a single traded asset class that would be immune to revaluation at this point in time (including 'safe' haven investments; those will fall less than the fluffier stuff, but I don't really feel like participating in a race to the bottom). All I can say is that if you understand what hedging is, do it.

Major Market Indices

The broad market - the ASX All Ordinaries - rose by 12.80 points (0.31%), finishing at 4149.20 points. After opening at around 4140, the index dipped to end the first hour at 4127.80 - which turned out to be the low for the session. From there it was a wafting wave upwards, which didn't finish until the close (the index closed at its session high).

Total volume traded on the ASX was pretty good relative to the volume traded over recent sessions. At 810 million units, it was 0.2% below its 10-day average.

Of the 483 stocks in the All Ordinaries, 210 rose while 145 fell. We still haven't been able to get genuinely expansive breadth on this little rally/bounce/final gasp. Still, the internals weren't bad, and volume was tilted in favour of the gainers by a margin of 2.4:1, with 300.35 million shares traded in gainers while 126.31 million shares traded in the day's losers.

The Index that forms the cash basis for the SFE's Share Price Index Futures - the S&P/ASX 200 - rose by 13.30 points (0.32%), finishing at 4194.00 points. Like the All Ords, it finished at its session high; unlike the All Ords, the ASX200 actually managed to get a majority of its stocks in the advancing column.

The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders - rose by 4.70 points (0.21%), finishing at 2273.00 points. Within the index members, there were 10 that rose, and 9 losers - and Woolworths was unchanged. So winners made it by the barest of margins. volume traded was likewise pretty even - volume in rising issues within the ASX20 amounted to 44.14 million shares as compared to volume in the losers which totalled 30.43 million units.

The major winners in the "big guns" were -

• Alumina (AWC), +$0.13 (2.26%) to $5.88 on volume of 4.6m shares;
• BHP Billiton (BHP), +$0.25 (1.46%) to $17.42 on volume of 12.3m shares;
• Telstra Corporation (TLS), +$0.06 (1.18%) to $5.13 on volume of 10.9m shares;
• QBE Insurance Group (QBE), +$0.16 (1.05%) to $15.46 on volume of 3.14m shares; and
• Coles Myer Ltd (CML), +$0.08 (0.85%) to $9.44 on volume of 2.54m shares.

The following stocks made up the biggest percentage losers in the big-guns:

• National Australia Bank (NAB), -$0.44 (1.41%) to $30.71 on volume of 3.87m shares;
• News Corporation (NWSLV), -$0.27 (1.25%) to $21.25 on volume of 1.19m shares;
• Wesfarmers (WES), -$0.39 (1.04%) to $37.26 on volume of 501,000 shares;
• Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (CBA), -$0.31 (0.81%) to $37.74 on volume of 1.68m shares; and
• News Corporation (NWS), -$0.17 (0.76%) to $22.09 on volume of 1.83m shares.

At the smaller end of the market's capitalisation scale, the ASX Small Ordinaries Index rose by 23.50 points (1.03%), finishing at 2308.30 points. A bare majority of stocks in the Small Ords rose, but the advancers still beat the decliners by a reasonable margin. The major winners in the "pop-guns" were -

• Ventracor (VCR), +$0.15 (11.11%) to $1.50 on volume of 7.68m shares;
• Dragon Mining (DRA), +$0.02 (10.53%) to $0.21 on volume of 851,000 shares;
• PMP (PMP), +$0.09 (6.32%) to $1.43 on volume of 1.67m shares;
• Perseverance Corporation (PSV), +$0.02 (5.56%) to $0.29 on volume of 2.79m shares; and
• Croesus Mining (CRS), +$0.02 (4.84%) to $0.33 on volume of 1.12m shares.

The losingest-little-guys for the session were (in order of decline):

• Emperor Mines (EMP), -$0.02 (5%) to $0.29 on volume of 35,000 shares;
• Clough (CLO), -$0.02 (4.21%) to $0.46 on volume of 739,000 shares; and
• Maxitrans Industries (MXI), -$0.03 (3.8%) to $0.76 on volume of 40,000 shares;
• Prime Television (PRT), -$0.10 (3.23%) to $3.00 on volume of 2,000 shares; and
• Sydney Gas Ltd (SGL), -$0.02 (2.94%) to $0.66 on volume of 190,000 shares.

Index Changes
Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
XAO	All Ordinaries	4149.2	12.8	0.31%	537.2m
XTL	S&P/ASX 20	2273	4.7	0.21%	77.81m
XFL	S&P/ASX 50	4145.4	10.4	0.25%	236.4m
XTO	S&P/ASX 100	3410.5	8.9	0.26%	369.77m
XJO	S&P/ASX 200	4194	13.3	0.32%	438.91m
XKO	S&P/ASX 300	4185.6	13.8	0.33%	0
XMD	S&P/ASX Mid-Cap 50	4030.7	12.9	0.32%	0
XSO	S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries	2308.3	23.5	1.03%	163.27m

All Ordinaries Market Internals

I've only just noticed that I managed to bugger up the order of the indices. They're supposed to run from narrowest-to-broadest (i.e., from the ASX20 through to the Market). I will fix that up by Monday.

Market Breadth
	XAO	XJO	XSO	ASX20	Market	XTO
Advances	210	107	94	10	519	50
Declines	145	64	63	9	402	37
Advancing Volume	300.35m	273.46m	70.87m	44.14	480.51	213.54
Declining Volume	126.31m	101.13m	46.81m	30.43	222.38	118.32

S&P/ASX200 GICS Sector Indices

The top sector for the day was Telecommunications which gained 1.33% to 1824.40 points (yes, thanks to a move in Telstra). The other stock in the XTJ - New Zealand Telecom - was unchanged ...

• Telstra Corporation (TLS), +$0.06 (1.18%) to $5.13 on volume of 10.88m shares;
• Telecom Corporation Of New Zealand (TEL), -$0.00 (0%) to $5.60 on volume of 2.4m shares.

Second in the sector leadership stakes was Materials which gained 1.10% to 7026.00 points. The sector leaders were -

• Croesus Mining (CRS), +$0.02 (4.84%) to $0.33 on volume of 1.12m shares;
• Timbercorp (TIM), +$0.08 (3.98%) to $2.09 on volume of 350,000 shares;
• Nufarm (NUF), +$0.35 (3.8%) to $9.55 on volume of 214,000 shares;
• Excel Coal (EXL), +$0.26 (3.75%) to $7.19 on volume of 607,000 shares; and
• Zinifex (ZFX), +$0.11 (3.57%) to $3.19 on volume of 5.63m shares.

The bronze today went to Utilities which gained 0.56% to 5014.80 points. The sector was led by

• Gasnet Australia Group (GAS), +$0.05 (2%) to $2.55 on volume of 102,000 shares;
• Australian Gas Light Company (AGL), +$0.10 (0.7%) to $14.31 on volume of 1.17m shares;
• Australian Pipeline Trust (APA), +$0.02 (0.54%) to $3.75 on volume of 96,000 shares;
• Alinta (ALN), +$0.05 (0.49%) to $10.27 on volume of 977,000 shares; and
• Energy Developments (ENE), -$0.01 (0.26%) to $3.85 on volume of 215,000 shares.

The worst-performed sector today was Information Technology which lost 0.37% to 376.80 points. The sector was dragged lower by

• Myob (MYO), -$0.02 (1.87%) to $1.05 on volume of 584,000 shares;
• ERG (ERG), -$0.01 (1.82%) to $0.27 on volume of 812,000 shares;
• Baycorp Advantage (BCA), -$0.05 (1.63%) to $3.02 on volume of 282,000 shares;
• Computershare (CPU), -$0.05 (0.87%) to $5.73 on volume of 755,000 shares; and
• IRESS Market Technology (IRE), -$0.01 (0.24%) to $4.17 on volume of 60,000 shares.

Just in front of last place on the sector table was Industrials which lost 0.13% to 5054.40 points. The sector was pulled down by

• Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG), -$0.07 (1.7%) to $4.04 on volume of 19.4m shares;
• Coates Hire (COA), -$0.05 (1.15%) to $4.30 on volume of 371,000 shares; and
• Wesfarmers (WES), -$0.39 (1.04%) to $37.26 on volume of 501,000 shares;
• Prime Infrastructure Group (PIF), -$0.02 (0.9%) to $1.65 on volume of 1.84m shares; and
• Transurban Group (TCL), -$0.04 (0.54%) to $7.41 on volume of 7.51m shares.

Sector Indices
Code	GICS Sector	Close	+/-	%	Volume
XTJ	Telecommunications	1824.4	24	1.33%	13.28m
XMJ	Materials	7026	76.6	1.1%	141.05m
XUJ	Utilities	5014.8	28	0.56%	4.28m
XPJ	Property Trusts	1782.9	6.9	0.39%	108.16m
XDJ	Consumer Discretionary	2213.9	5.3	0.24%	25.27m
XEJ	Energy	8806.8	16.6	0.19%	13.84m
XHJ	Healthcare	4853.7	7.1	0.15%	15.36m
XSJ	Consumer Staples	5627.5	6.1	0.11%	37.59m
XFJ	Financials	5027	1.6	0.03%	157.77m
XXJ	ASX200 Financials ex Property Trusts	5130.1	-3.5	-0.07%	51.4m
XNJ	Industrials	5054.4	-6.5	-0.13%	55.97m
XIJ	Information Technology	376.8	-1.4	-0.37%	3.28m

All Ordinaries Major Movers

All Ords Volume Leaders
Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
WMR	WMC Resources	7.85	0.02	0.26%	66.67m
MXG	Multiplex Group	2.67	-0.06	-2.2%	27.72m
MIG	Macquarie Infrastructure Group	4.04	-0.07	-1.7%	19.38m
SGT	Singapore Telecommunications	2.1	-0.01	-0.47%	14.13m
BHP	BHP Billiton	17.43	0.26	1.51%	12.26m
TLS	Telstra Corporation	5.12	0.05	0.99%	10.63m

All Ords Percentage Gainers
Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
MXL	MXL	0.17	0.02	13.79%	3.35m
VCR	Ventracor	1.5	0.15	11.11%	7.66m
DRA	Dragon Mining	0.21	0.02	10.53%	850563
EPT	Epitan	0.44	0.04	8.75%	772802
PMP	PMP	1.43	0.09	6.32%	1.67m

All Ords Percentage Decliners
Code	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
CLO	Clough	0.46	-0.02	-4.21%	738588
PMN	Promina Group	4.97	-0.19	-3.68%	3.93m
AGI	Ainsworth Game Technology	0.55	-0.02	-3.51%	94543
SGL	Sydney Gas Ltd	0.66	-0.02	-2.94%	189990
GNC	Graincorp	10.56	-0.3	-2.76%	17179

Elsewhere in the Region...

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 15.75 points (-0.14%) to close at 11264.3 points as early strength evaporated in the afternoon. The index hit a high of 11317.94 twenty minutes after the open, and fell to its session low of 11233.65 points during the afternoon session.

The Kiwi Market advanced 25.95 points (0.86%) to close at 3060.976 points, in a complete coast-to-coast rally day. The index hit a high of 3061.077 a few seconds before the close, and the session low of 3035.026 points was set with the first print of the session.

A total of 21 stocks within the NZSE50 rose, with volume in advancers totalling 14.4million units. Decliners numbered 17, and total volume traded in losers was 1.7million shares. Individual stocks that dud well included...

• Auckland International Airport (AIA), +NZ$0.07 (3.37%) to NZ$2.15 on volume of 588,000 shares;
• Property Forest  Industries (PFI), +NZ$0.03 (2.86%) to NZ$1.08 on volume of 123,000 shares;
• Ryman Healthcare (RYM), +NZ$0.08 (2.22%) to NZ$3.68 on volume of 168,000 shares;
• Steel & Tube Holdings (STU), +NZ$0.09 (2%) to NZ$4.60 on volume of 7,000 shares;
• Fisher & Paykel A (FPA), +NZ$0.06 (1.92%) to NZ$3.19 on volume of 609,000 shares; and
• Carter Holt Harvey (CAH), +NZ$0.03 (1.69%) to NZ$1.80 on volume of 2.21m shares.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index had advanced 23.82 points (0.17%) to 13838.4 points by lunchtime. After spending the first ten minutes making up its mind which way to jump (during which time the session low of 13792.65 points was registered), Hongkers went on a small but sustained rise, setting an intraday high of 13870.49 just after midday.

Within the Hang Seng, 14 index components rose, while 5 stocks fell. Volume in the gainers in Hong Kong's big-cap index totalled 61.7 million units, and total volume traded in losers was 10.2 million shares. Individual stocks that contributed to the advance included...

• Wheelock (0020), +HK$0.30 (2.71%) to HK$11.35 on volume of 3.94m shares;
• Lenovo Group (0992), +HK$0.05 (2.02%) to HK$2.53 on volume of 5.82m shares;
• Henderson Investments (0097), +HK$0.20 (1.87%) to HK$10.90 on volume of 6.11m shares;
• Hang Lung Properties (0101), +HK$0.15 (1.36%) to HK$11.20 on volume of 2.5m shares;
• CNOOC (0883), +HK$0.05 (1.18%) to HK$4.30 on volume of 7.03m shares; and
• MTR Corporation (0066), +HK$0.15 (1.08%) to HK$14.10 on volume of 1.58m shares.

Regional Indices
Country	Name	Close	+/-	%	Volume
New Zealand	NZSE50	3060.976	25.95	0.86%	21.29m
Japan	Nikkei 225	11264.3	-15.75	-0.14%	0
Korea	KOSPI	976.09	5.21	0.54%	316762
Singapore	Straits Times	2195.27	3.72	0.17%	0
Hong Kong	Hang Seng	13838.4	23.82	0.17%	113.86m
Malaysia	KLSE Comp	863.29	0.89	0.1%	0