Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

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            [1] => ((GFF))
            [2] => ((MGR))
            [3] => ((QBE))
            [4] => ((BRU))
            [5] => ((WTF))
            [6] => ((AMC))
            [7] => ((SBM))
            [8] => ((OZL))
            [9] => ((ASL))
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            [2] => MGR
            [3] => QBE
            [4] => BRU
            [5] => WTF
            [6] => AMC
            [7] => SBM
            [8] => OZL
            [9] => ASL
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)

List StockArray ( [0] => MGR [1] => QBE [2] => BRU [3] => AMC [4] => SBM [5] => ASL )

By Ashley Jessen

ASX Top Gainers & Losers plus Market Snapshot – 18 December 2013

To taper or not to taper, that is the question on many traders’ minds right now. News from the Federal Reserve will hit Australia in the early hours of Thursday morning and given the importance of this meeting, it was no surprise to see a complete lack of direction in either the US, European or Aussie markets over the last 24 hours. The S&P/ASX200 remained flat for the whole trading session, trading in a narrow 20 point range to close the session down 7.1 points or 0.14% on volume of $4.1 billion.

Quite an even mixture of gainers and losers across the sectors with 4 gainers and 7 losers with the Telecommunications and Financial sectors the most bullish, rising 0.38% and 0.16% respectively. The Industrials sector was unable to hold on to a 3 day winning streak, giving back 1.14% and Consumer Discretionary also lost ground, down 1.12% on the day.

Looking over the charts

Indecision abounds with the pending US Fed meeting and the global index charts are showing it clearly, with the Aussie market highlighting a doji star formation, again indicating indecision. Not a lot can be said about the charts until we see a resolution or some direction from the US Fed as many market participants are hanging on that decision. Should there be a suggestion of tapering in 2014, one can expect the market to push forward and those short could potentially be covering those shorts, giving the potential of a short term rally.

ASX top 200 stock analysis

23% of stocks are showing oversold levels, 12% are showing overbought levels and 25% of stocks are currently above their long term moving average as of close of trading today.

S&P/ASX 200 Gainers and Losers

Decmil Group ((DCG)) has managed six straight up days with today’s 5.26% gain icing on the cake as it rebounds from a fairly bearish 2 months of trading and pushes back into a larger support zone between $2.05 and $2.55. Goodman Fielder ((GFF)) managed to be the 2nd best performer on the day but really just managed to a positive gain of 3.2% as it consolidates the recent fall at the bottom of the current down trend.

Top 5 gainers:

DCG       DECMIL GROUP +5.26%
GFF        GOODMAN FIELDER +3.20%
((MGR))      MIRVAC GROUP +3.16%
((QBE))        QBE INSURANCE GROUP +2.26%
((BRU))       BURU ENERGY +2.13%

Wotif.com Holdings ((WTF)) had the unfortunately job of watching their shares drop a massive 31.82% today as Graeme Wood issued a profit warning to investors, suggesting a possible fall up to 20 per cent with volatile trading conditions to continue. Amcor ((AMC)) gave back two and a half months of excellent trading conditions when the shares fell 9.77% after the share market debut of Pact Group Holdings and demerger of Amcor.

Top 5 Losers:

WTF       WOTIF.COM HOLDINGS -31.82%
AMC      AMCOR -9.77%
((SBM))       ST BARBARA -7.27%
((OZL))        OZ MINERALS -6.94%
((ASL))         AUSDRILL -6.25%

 

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