Note - from June 24th 2009, this blog has migrated from Blogger to a self-hosted version. Click here to go straight there.
No rest for the wicked, goes the saying. But there's also no rest for your non-wicked, handsome, brainy beloved GT neither, dearest Reader. You are all no doubt fully aware of my continuing quest to furnish analyst level tools to the poor, the wretched - and yea verily, even to the huddled masses. (I'm not sure about the wretched refuse of your (or any) teeming shore, however... they sound like they might be a bit smelly).
As I was saying... the Quest.
Well, it turns out that a decent quest involves a bit of sleep deprivation and caffeine overdose on the part of the questor (should that be questee? Can one be the target of a quest? Probably). I keep finding little annoying glitches - all of which stem from browser rendering idiosyncracies - all of which are in Microsoft browsers.
There is not a single version of Internet Explorer which is standards-compliant. Not one. And it is the bane of every developer's life (not that I am a 'developer' in any real sense - I am to software development what Adolf Hitler was to watercolors: an enthusiastic amateur who from time to time produces moderately attractive daubings).
But back to my whining: how is it that MS always puts its products out before they are properly secure, properly functional, and - most mportant of all - compliant with standards? IE6 is a disaster, IE7 is better but still rubbish.
This cross-browser rendering issue was the primary reason why I initially decided to move everything to Flex. For a given level of data, the resultant webpage is always 'fatter', but almost all browser-specific rendering issues disappear: you can be very nearly sure that the way a thing looks in one browser will be the same in other browsers.
As usual there is a wrinkle, even with Flex; this time it is Netscape variants that fail to comply with the strict XHTML standard, in that they refuse to recognise most Object tags. That means having to double up on parameters, which increases the risk of cockup by a factor of 2k where k is the number of parameters.
So unless you are as cunning as a shit-house rat with a gold toth, you have to use the "Twice Cooked" approach, solely because browsers retain ludicrous idiosyncracies. (Note: I didn't use twice-cooked to embed the thing below, even though I don't have a gold tooth... to their credit, Firefox supports OBJECT tage)
It's no biggie though... take a look at my neat-o watch list:
HOW TO:
- ADD stocks: type in the stock code and click ADD
- REMOVE stocks: CLICK on the stock code and click the button marked REMOVE;
- Look at chart: DOUBLE CLICK on the stock code.
The chart can be moved (grab the chart's title bar) and resized (using the bottom right hand corner).
This is a non-subscriber version - the subscriber version is even niftier.
This weekend I'm changing a lot of the subscriber site content over to the Flex versions - even the Free areas will get a dose of Flex-y goodness.
Major Market Indices
The broad market - the All Ordinaries (XAO) - rose strongly, registering a gain of 66.1 points (1.29%), finishing at 5209.4 points. The index hit an intraday high of 5220 at 11:53 am, while the low for the day was 5143.3 - set at 10:00 am Sydney time.
Total volume traded on the ASX was 1.29bn units, 19.9% above its 10-day average - a solid-volume day for once (and on a Friday at that). The ASX's daily listing of all stocks included 1317 different 3-letter FPO's which traded (i.e., had non-zero trade volume). Of these, 674 issues rose, with volume in rising issues totalling 762m units; decliners numbered 370 counters, and between them they traded aggregate declining volume of 383.5m shares.
Of the 492 All Ordinaries components, 298 rose while 137 fell. Volume was tilted in favour of the gainers by a margin of 2.4:1, with 644.27m shares traded in gainers while 270.71m 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 (XJO) - managed a solid gain, adding 64.9 points (1.28%), closing out the session at 5131.4 points.
| Name | Close | +/-(%) |
|---|---|---|
| All Ordinaries | 5209.40 | 66.10 (1.3%) |
| ASX 20 | 2911.70 | 39.20 (1.4%) |
| ASX 50 | 5022.90 | 64.10 (1.3%) |
| ASX 100 | 4160.50 | 53.10 (1.3%) |
| ASX 200 | 5131.40 | 64.90 (1.3%) |
| ASX 300 | 5125.50 | 64.80 (1.3%) |
| ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 5112.70 | 64.50 (1.3%) |
| ASX Small Ordinaries | 2918.90 | 34.40 (1.2%) |
The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders (XTL) - performed solidly, in moving up 39.2 points (1.36%), closing out the session at 2911.7 points.
The 20 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 193.56m units; 17 index components rose, and up volume was 165.76m shares. The 2 decliners had volume traded totalling 25.62m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were
- Macquarie Group (MQG), +$1.97 (4.68%) to $44.05 on volume of 6.3 million shares;
- Brambles (BXB), +$0.22 (2.94%) to $7.70 on volume of 7.3 million shares;
- Woodside Petroleum (WPL), +$1.77 (2.89%) to $62.94 on volume of 5.8 million shares;
- CSL (CSL), +$1.10 (2.79%) to $40.50 on volume of 4.1 million shares; and
- Westfield Group (WDC), +$0.46 (2.71%) to $17.46 on volume of 9.1 million shares.
On the less salubrious side of the big-cap fence, the only two duds for the day were :
- Suncorp-Metway (SUN), -$0.35 (2.97%) to $11.43 on volume of 4.1 million shares; and
- BHP Billiton (BHP), -$0.08 (0.19%) to $41.67 on volume of 21.6 million shares.
At the other end of the market-cap spectrum lie the denizens of the ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO). The small end of the market performed broadly in line with its large-cap counterpart. The Small Ords performed solidly, in moving up 34.4 points (1.19%), closing out the session at 2918.9 points.
Among the stocks that make up the Small Caps index, 120 index components finished to the upside, and of the rest, 59 closed lower for the session.
The 195 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 258.73m units: volume in the 120 gainers totalling 150.98m shares, with trade totalling 95.69m units in the index's 59 declining components. The major percentage gainers within the index were- Rubicon America Trust (RAT), +$0.01 (16.9%) to $0.08 on volume of 84.6 thousand shares;
- Alliance Resources (AGS), +$0.12 (14.65%) to $0.90 on volume of 814.8 thousand shares;
- Record Realty (RRT), +$0.00 (13.33%) to $0.03 on volume of 324.1 thousand shares;
- Macquarie DDR Trust (MDT), +$0.04 (12.7%) to $0.36 on volume of 5.5 million shares; and
- Atlas Iron (AGO), +$0.25 (12.44%) to $2.26 on volume of 2.9 million shares.
In the red-zone of the little-stock index, the following list represents the biggest downers (in terms of percentage decline):
- Babcock & Brown Wind Partners Group (BBW), -$0.09 (6.43%) to $1.31 on volume of 1.8 million shares;
- CBH Resources (CBH), -$0.01 (4.76%) to $0.10 on volume of 867.4 thousand shares;
- Deep Yellow (DYL), -$0.01 (4%) to $0.24 on volume of 700 thousand shares;
- Mirabela Nickel (MBN), -$0.2 (3.92%) to $4.90 on volume of 144.7 thousand shares; and
- OM Holdings (OMH), -$0.08 (3.27%) to $2.37 on volume of 2.4 million shares.
Index Changes
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XAO | All Ordinaries | 5209.4 | 66.1 | 1.29 | 990.9m |
| XFL | ASX 50 | 5022.9 | 64.1 | 1.29 | 407.9m |
| XJO | ASX 200 | 5131.4 | 64.9 | 1.28 | 852.6m |
| XKO | ASX 300 | 5125.5 | 64.8 | 1.28 | 922.9m |
| XMD | ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 5112.7 | 64.5 | 1.28 | 256.2m |
| XSO | ASX Small Ordinaries | 2918.9 | 34.4 | 1.19 | 258.7m |
| XTL | ASX 20 | 2911.7 | 39.2 | 1.36 | 193.6m |
| XTO | ASX 100 | 4160.5 | 53.1 | 1.29 | 664.2m |
Market Breadth
| ASX20 | XTO | XJO | XAO | XSO | Market | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advances | 17 | 74 | 140 | 298 | 120 | 674 |
| Declines | 2 | 21 | 50 | 137 | 59 | 370 |
| Advancing Volume | 165.8m | 459.4m | 569.5m | 644.3m | 151m | 762m |
| Declining Volume | 25.6m | 165.9m | 236.5m | 270.7m | 95.7m | 383.5m |
GICS Industry Indices
Among the 11 industry indices, things were relatively upbeat: every sector bar one managed to keep its head above water.
The best performing index was Property Trusts (XPJ), which added 38.8 points (2.71%) to 1470.1 points. The 21 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 193.32m units; 18 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 146.48m shares, while the 2 decliners had volume traded totalling 28.86m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were
- Macquarie DDR Trust (MDT), +$0.04 (12.7%) to $0.36 on volume of 5.5 million shares;
- GPT Group (GPT), +$0.11 (6.29%) to $1.78 on volume of 29.2 million shares;
- Valad Property Group (VPG), +$0.03 (5%) to $0.53 on volume of 16 million shares;
- Goodman Group (GMG), +$0.15 (4.95%) to $3.18 on volume of 5.8 million shares; and
- Centro Retail (CER), +$0.01 (4%) to $0.26 on volume of 10.2 million shares.
Second in the index leadership stakes was Healthcare (XHJ), which gained 241.6 points (2.57%) to 9636 points. The 8 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 13.07m units; 7 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 11.64m shares, while sole declining stock traded 1.42m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were
- Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SIP), +$0.05 (3.61%) to $1.29 on volume of 4 million shares;
- Ramsay Health Care (RHC), +$0.37 (3.51%) to $10.90 on volume of 255.6 thousand shares;
- Sonic Healthcare (SHL), +$0.43 (3.08%) to $14.39 on volume of 1.1 million shares;
- Ansell (ANN), +$0.34 (2.85%) to $12.29 on volume of 366.8 thousand shares; and
- CSL (CSL), +$1.10 (2.79%) to $40.50 on volume of 4.1 million shares.
The bronze medal for today goes to Telecommunications (XTJ), which climbed 31 points (2.14%) to 1482.4 points. The 3 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 52m units; 2 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 48.18m shares, while sole declining stock traded 3.82m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were
- Telstra Corporation (TLS), +$0.11 (2.6%) to $4.34 on volume of 46.2 million shares; and
- Singapore Telecommunications (SGT), +$0.04 (1.41%) to $2.88 on volume of 1.9 million shares.
The only declining index for the session was Utilities (XUJ), which dipped 9.8 points (0.18%) to 5294 points. The 10 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 43.61m units; The 5 decliners had volume traded totalling 32.22m units, and 2 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 3.61m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were
- Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group (BBI), -$0.06 (9.4%) to $0.53 on volume of 20.5 million shares;
- Babcock & Brown Wind Partners Group (BBW), -$0.09 (6.43%) to $1.31 on volume of 1.8 million shares;
- Babcock & Brown Power (BBP), -$0.01 (2.5%) to $0.20 on volume of 9 million shares;
- Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund (HDF), -$0.02 (0.81%) to $2.44 on volume of 351.5 thousand shares; and
- APA Group (APA), -$0.02 (0.55%) to $3.62 on volume of 669.1 thousand shares.
Sector Indices
| Code | GICS Sector | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XPJ | Property Trusts | 1470.1 | 38.8 | 2.71 | 193m |
| XHJ | Healthcare | 9636 | 241.6 | 2.57 | 13m |
| XTJ | Telecommunications | 1482.4 | 31 | 2.14 | 52m |
| XXJ | Financials ex Property Trusts | 4952.3 | 93.7 | 1.93 | 100m |
| XNJ | Industrials | 4848.1 | 70.8 | 1.48 | 150m |
| XEJ | Energy | 18629.2 | 224.4 | 1.22 | 54m |
| XDJ | Consumer Discretionary | 1707.7 | 18.6 | 1.1 | 62m |
| XSJ | Consumer Staples | 7403.2 | 54.9 | 0.75 | 38m |
| XIJ | Information Technology | 517.1 | 2.3 | 0.45 | 4m |
| XMJ | Materials | 14033 | 29.7 | 0.21 | 164m |
| XUJ | Utilities | 5294 | -9.8 | -0.18 | 44m |
All Ordinaries Major Movers
All Ords Volume Leaders
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TLS | Telstra Corporation Limited. | 4.34 | 0.11 | 2.6 | 46.2m |
| OZL | OZ Minerals Limited | 1.76 | -0.01 | -0.28 | 41.4m |
| MIG | Macquarie Infrastructure Group | 2.18 | 0.06 | 2.83 | 33.4m |
| GPT | GPT Group | 1.78 | 0.11 | 6.29 | 29.2m |
| CEU | Connecteast Group | 0.82 | 0.00 | 0 | 26.5m |
All Ords Percentage Gainers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPM | GEO Property Group | 0.29 | 0.06 | 23.4 | 1.8m |
| RAT | Rubicon America Trust | 0.08 | 0.01 | 16.9 | 84.6k |
| TTY | Territory Resources Limited | 0.56 | 0.08 | 15.63 | 313.3k |
| AGS | Alliance Resources Limited | 0.90 | 0.12 | 14.65 | 814.8k |
| RRT | Record Realty | 0.03 | 0.00 | 13.33 | 324.1k |
All Ords Percentage Losers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CWP | Cedar Woods Properties Limited | 2.20 | -0.30 | -12 | 22.6k |
| PTN | Prime Retirement and Aged Care Property Trust | 0.48 | -0.05 | -9.43 | 578.7k |
| BBI | Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group | 0.53 | -0.06 | -9.4 | 20.5m |
| NCK | Nick Scali Limited | 0.70 | -0.07 | -9.09 | 5k |
| ARH | Australasian Resources Limited | 1.27 | -0.11 | -7.97 | 26k |
