Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

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This story features NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LIMITED.
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: NST
The company is included in ASX20, ASX50, ASX100, ASX200, ASX300 and ALL-ORDS

By Ashley Jessen, director of LearnCFDs.com and author of CFDs Made Simple

New recent highs and general euphoria among market participants from yesterday’s fresh market highs was put on hold today as a raft of economic data put some perspective of Australia’s current situation. The S&P/ASX 200 declined by 25 points or 0.48% to close at 5166.2

Global powerhouse China disappointed slightly, releasing their official PMI data indicating a slowdown to 50.6 from a previous reading of 50.9. To top that off, Australia’s manufacturing print had its worst reading in four years dropping 7.7 points, down to 36.7.

Telecommunications and Technology stocks appeared as the only shining lights and the only sectors able to remain in positive territory with each up 0.88% and 0.59% respectively. Across the board our market did struggle with Basic Materials and Consumer goods feeling the most pain, down 1.44% and 0.82%, giving back some of the recent gains made.

Looking over the charts

Pausing at this critical juncture, with the market slightly pulling back, is certainly not a negative but must be considered at the worst a neutral pause in the midst of an overall bullish market. Oscillators are screaming overbought but all seasoned traders are aware that oscillators an at best ineffective during trending markets, which we are experiencing right now. Intraday market action indicated uncertainty at these levels but most important is that the bears were not able to gain any traction.

S&P/ASX 200 Gainers and Losers

SAI Global ((SAI)) well and truly out performed, rising 11.05% and breaking resistance at $3.80 and pushing aggressively towards filling the gap down created in mid February this year. Northern Star Resources ((NST)) rose a steady 5.93% but investors will be most pleased with the fact that it didn’t continue downhill and breach current support around $0.68.

Medusa Mining ((MML)) struggled to gain any traction, falling 5.81% on slightly higher than normal volume and precariously heading towards recent lows. Resolute Mining ((RSG)) lost direction completely with intraday selling pressure forcing the price down 5.76% on rising volume with the recent low at $0.85 looking extremely vulnerable.
 

(For a more comprehensive summary of last night’s market action see FNArena’s Overnight Report.)

Disclaimer: There is a high degree of risk involved in trading various financial instruments. It is possible to lose significant amounts of money when trading the markets. As your trading decisions are beyond my control, I accept no responsibility for your trading results. Please seek professional financial advice to determine if trading is for you.

While Ashley Jessen attempts to ensure that the information herein is accurate at the date the information was produced, however, Ashley Jessen does not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness for a particular purpose of any of the information provided herein and under no circumstances are they to be considered an offer, solicitation to invest or be construed as giving investment advice.

Technical limitations

If you are reading this story through a third party distribution channel and you cannot see charts included, we apologise, but technical limitations are to blame.

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