Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

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            [1] => ((BLY))
            [2] => ((ENV))
            [3] => ((MND))
            [4] => ((TAH))
            [5] => ((REA))
            [6] => ((IAG))
            [7] => ((SBM))
            [8] => ((RSG))
            [9] => ((OZL))
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            [7] => SBM
            [8] => RSG
            [9] => OZL
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List StockArray ( [0] => ENV [1] => MND [2] => TAH [3] => REA [4] => IAG [5] => SBM [6] => RSG )

By Ashley Jessen

ASX Top Gainers & Losers plus Market Snapshot – 17 December 2013

Despite upbeat trading sessions in both Europe (FTSE up 1.3%) and the US (Dow Jones up 0.82%), our local S&P/ASX200 was unable to hold on to healthy 40 point gains early in the trading session and even slipped into negative territory by 3pm before closing up 13.6 points or 0.27% on slightly lower than average volume of $3.6 billion.

There was one standout performer across the sectors today with Consumer Staples leading the charge, rising a healthy 1.30% as it recovers from a recent sell off over the last 3 weeks of trading. The Telecommunications Services sector also performed notably, rising 0.76%. Only three sectors were unable to push into positive territory with Utilities falling 0.78% and the Real Estate Investment Trust sector losing ground by 0.60%.

Looking over the charts

Quite a large range day today with many intraday traders hopefully capturing a good portion of the initial 40 point rally, which saw profit takers step in aggressively around 11:30am to eventually drive the index back down to yesterday's close. By the close of the session we can note an inside day on the futures pricing with momentum vainly trying to build to the upside on the stochastics indicator. Unfortunately all of this tends to be pointing to a potentially lower close in the near future with the possibility to watch out for some bullish divergence building, which could provide an ideal long setup if and when that occurs.

ASX top 200 stock analysis

23% of stocks are showing oversold levels, 14% are showing overbought levels and 30% of stocks are currently above their long term moving average as of close of trading today.

S&P/ASX 200 Gainers and Losers

Forge Group ((FGE)) managed to push forward valiantly on over 13 million of shares changing hands as it attempts to break back above the price it originally gapped down to nearly 3 weeks ago, and today's 17.76% rise has helped significantly. Boart Longyear ((BLY)) has not had much to celebrate this year and today's 9.09% gain is hardly going to calm investors but at least it is a step in the right direction, and hopefully a direction that will continue well into 2014.

Top 5 gainers:

FGE        FORGE GROUP +17.76%
BLY         BOART LONGYEAR +9.09%
((ENV))       ENVESTRA +4.67%
((MND))     MONADELPHOUS GROUP +4.66%
((TAH))        TABCORP HOLDINGS +3.55%

REA Group ((REA)) announced today the resignation of their CEO, Greg Ellis, who is going to step down to pursue an overseas opportunity in a non-competitive space, and unfortunately investors took that as an opportunity to sell down their holdings with the stock falling 6.88%. Insurance Australia Group ((IAG)) has had a rough 4 weeks, falling 12.9%, with 5.26% of that drop coming today as they make a bold move to snap up Wesfarmers' underwriting businesses for $1.85 billion.

Top 5 Losers:

REA        REA GROUP -6.88%
IAG        INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP -5.26%
((SBM))       ST BARBARA -5.17%
((RSG))        RESOLUTE MINING -4.67%
((OZL))        OZ MINERALS -4.00%

 

Reprinted with permission of the publisher. Content included in this article is not by association the view of FNArena (see our disclaimer).