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Sometimes the internets tubes get clogged, and numbers that ought to work, don't. Today was such a day, with major news networks and information sources being bamboozled by a stuffup in somebody's datafeed.
I caught it just as I was preparing to start Ranting on today's OzRant; fortunately I had been keeping a close eye on a futures platform, so I knew that the data that came out of the RantMachine was wrong.
Take a gander at this Yahoo page... notice the column of red numbers for the Australian indices... it's WRONG. My datafeed initially had the same numbers - which stuffed up all the calculations in the normal Rant tables.
Importantly, it made me aware of one thing that is a trap for young players when it comes to extracting data: don't rely on the data provider to furnish change and percentage change numbers. It's far better to use a (very) slightly slower algorithm that calculates change and percentage change using the fresh 'levels' data and the prior day's levels data (which is stored in my database, obviously).
If you get all three numbers (level, change and percentage change) from one source, you have no freedom from error and no prospect of checking.
I had already learned that lesson with respect to index volume (i.e., total shares traded within a given index); the numbers furnished by data providers are almost always wrong - and not by small amounts. So I started calculating the index volumes myself, using trade data for index components (and updating the component lists every day).
Anyway... it's not going to kill anybody to see the wrong change numbers, but it is the reason that I have had to dispense with a lot of the auto-generated tables (I spent an hour trying to build them by hand when I calculated the right numbers, but I ran out of steam... so the text below is somewhat abridged, but all the changes and percentage changes are correct.
Major Market Indices
The broad market - the All Ordinaries (XAO) - rose reasonably solidly, posting a gain of 53.4 points (1.33%), finishing at 4060 points. The index hit an intraday high of 4111.1 just after 1:15pm, while the traded low for the day was 4044.1 - set at 10:20 am Sydney time (from now on, I am not counting lows that occur in the first ten minutes, when the bulk of the stock in the market aren't open)..
Total volume traded on the ASX was 1.2bn units, 7% below its 10-day average of 1.3bn shares.The ASX's daily listing of all stocks included 1068 different 3-letter FPO's which traded (i.e., had non-zero trade volume). Of these, 415 issues rose, with volume in rising issues totalling 619.5m units; there were 417 declining stocks, which traded aggregate declining volume of 415m shares.
Of the 493 All Ordinaries components, 226 rose while 187 fell. Volume was tilted in favour of the gainers by a margin of 1.9:1, with 564.58m shares traded in gainers while 297.39m 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) - registered a gain of 56.4 points (1.39%), closing out the session at 4107.8 points.
The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders (XTL) - added 22.8 points (0.93%), closing out the session at 2464.6 points.
The 21 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 163.41m units; 11 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 99.41m shares, while the 9 decliners had volume traded totalling 62.49m units. The major percentage gainers within the index had a very 'resource-y' feel
- RIO Tinto (RIO), +$5.73 (7.93%) to $78.00 on volume of 2.1 million shares;
- BHP Billiton (BHP), +$1.96 (7.02%) to $29.89 on volume of 15.9 million shares;
- Newcrest Mining (NCM), +$1.50 (6.92%) to $23.19 on volume of 1.2 million shares;
- Stockland (SGP), +$0.25 (6.49%) to $4.10 on volume of 5 million shares; and
- Woodside Petroleum (WPL), +$1.41 (3.54%) to $41.21 on volume of 1.4 million shares.
On the less salubrious side of the big-cap fence, the losers were very 'bank-y':
- Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC), -$1.09 (5.19%) to $19.91 on volume of 14.8 million shares;
- Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (CBA), -$2.07 (5.17%) to $38.00 on volume of 9.6 million shares;
- Suncorp-Metway. (SUN), -$0.35 (3.95%) to $8.50 on volume of 2.9 million shares;
- ANZ Banking Group (ANZ), -$0.39 (2.39%) to $15.90 on volume of 15.8 million shares; and
- St George Bank (SGB), -$0.64 (2.27%) to $27.61 on volume of 1.3 million shares.
At the other end of the market-cap spectrum lie the denizens of the ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) - the place where non-mania excess returns lie. The small end of the market significantly outperformed its large-cap counterpart. The Small Ords advanced by under a percent, adding 34.7 points (1.81%), closing out the session at 1944.4 points.
The 207 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 238.78m units: volume in the 108 gainers totalling 154.12m shares, with trade totalling 63.19m units in the index's 76 declining components. The major percentage gainers within the index were- Tishman Speyer Office Fund (TSO), +$0.07 (21.88%) to $0.39 on volume of 629.2 thousand shares;
- PanAust Ltd (PNA), +$0.04 (17.39%) to $0.27 on volume of 21.2 million shares;
- Aquarius Platinum (AQP), +$0.45 (13.35%) to $3.82 on volume of 196.7 thousand shares;
- Challenger Financial Services Group (CGF), +$0.24 (12.67%) to $2.09 on volume of 785.5 thousand shares; and
- Panoramic Resources (PAN), +$0.15 (12.5%) to $1.35 on volume of 1.1 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 Power (BBP), -$0.02 (20.41%) to $0.08 on volume of 10.8 million shares;
- Australian Education Trust (AEU), -$0.04 (15.09%) to $0.23 on volume of 448.4 thousand shares;
- Becton Property Group (BEC), -$0.03 (13.51%) to $0.16 on volume of 468.7 thousand shares;
- Imdex (IMD), -$0.08 (12.7%) to $0.55 on volume of 1.1 million shares; and
- Compass Resources (CMR), -$0.05 (12.5%) to $0.35 on volume of 167.8 thousand shares.
| ASX20 | XTO | XJO | XAO | XSO | Market | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advances | 11 | 65 | 137 | 226 | 108 | 415 |
| Declines | 9 | 32 | 59 | 187 | 76 | 417 |
| Advancing Volume | 99.4m | 401.3m | 522.7m | 564.6m | 154.1m | 619.5m |
| Declining Volume | 62.5m | 219.7m | 253.7m | 297.4m | 63.2m | 415m |
GICS Industry Indices
Among the 11 industry indices, 9 registered an advance for the session, the remaining 2 lost ground.
Top of the index leadership stakes was Materials (XMJ), which gained 542 points (6.15%) to 9369 points. The 45 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 178.58m units; 33 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 151.52m shares, while the 8 decliners had volume traded totalling 19.86m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were- PanAust Ltd (PNA), +$0.04 (17.39%) to $0.27 on volume of 21.2 million shares;
- Aquarius Platinum (AQP), +$0.45 (13.35%) to $3.82 on volume of 196.7 thousand shares;
- Onesteel (OST), +$0.46 (12.64%) to $4.10 on volume of 3.8 million shares;
- Panoramic Resources (PAN), +$0.15 (12.5%) to $1.35 on volume of 1.1 million shares; and
- Murchison Metals Ltd (MMX), +$0.07 (9.15%) to $0.78 on volume of 474.5 thousand shares.
- Babcock & Brown (BNB), -$0.24 (24%) to $0.76 on volume of 13.9 million shares;
- Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC), -$1.09 (5.19%) to $19.91 on volume of 14.8 million shares;
- Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (CBA), -$2.07 (5.17%) to $38.00 on volume of 9.6 million shares;
- Bendigo And Adelaide Bank (BEN), -$0.65 (4.78%) to $12.95 on volume of 423.6 thousand shares; and
- Suncorp-Metway. (SUN), -$0.35 (3.95%) to $8.50 on volume of 2.9 million shares.
All Ordinaries Major Movers
All Ords Volume Leaders
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBI | Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group | 0.08 | -0.05 | -40.77 | 68.2m |
| TLS | Telstra Corporation. | 4.40 | 0.10 | 2.33 | 53.7m |
| GPT | GPT Group | 1.00 | 0.10 | 10.56 | 51.1m |
| OZL | OZ Minerals | 1.03 | 0.09 | 8.99 | 28.9m |
| DXS | Dexus Property Group | 0.89 | 0.01 | 1.14 | 27.4m |
All Ords Percentage Gainers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSO | Tishman Speyer Office Fund | 0.39 | 0.07 | 21.88 | 629.2k |
| CFU | Ceramic Fuel Cells | 0.24 | 0.04 | 20 | 383.3k |
| PNA | PanAust Ltd | 0.27 | 0.04 | 17.39 | 21.2m |
| MGR | Mirvac Group | 1.37 | 0.20 | 17.09 | 10.1m |
| IIF | ING Industrial Fund | 0.52 | 0.07 | 15.56 | 5.2m |
All Ords Percentage Losers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABS | ABC Learning Centres | 0.00 | 0.00 | n/a | 38k |
| BBI | Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group | 0.08 | -0.05 | -40.77 | 68.2m |
| MAFCA | Multiplex Prime Property Fund | 0.11 | -0.04 | -26.67 | 180k |
| BNB | Babcock & Brown | 0.76 | -0.24 | -24 | 13.9m |
| BBP | Babcock & Brown Power | 0.08 | -0.02 | -20.41 | 10.8m |
