Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

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Global markets rally after a better than expected report on initial jobless claims combined with the ECB leaving interest rates at 0.25 per cent, proving a glimmer of hope for the bulls. The big focus for traders will be on the US non-farm payroll data out early Saturday morning.

What are traders talking about today?

•    S&P/ASX200 gained 35.1 points or +0.68% on volume of $2.8 billion, closing at 5166.5.
•    Aurora Oil & Gas was up over 56% after Baytex made a $1.84bn takeover bid, despite the share hitting new recent lows over the last week of trading.
•    Earnings reports were out for Aquarius Platinum, News Corporation and 21st Century Fox.
•    Gold continues to remain steady and is currently consolidating, poised for a breakout either long or short, with a bias towards a move higher.
•    Brent Crude continues to sit at low levels testing support and will be one to watch going forward for a potential break to the downside if support cannot hold.
•    Twitter shares fall 24.16%, wiping out $US9.8 billion in market value after showing a critical chart highlighting a pullback in global user growth.

Economic news

•    HSBC has printed their January Services PMI figure, indicating a fall from 50.9 to 50.7
•    The Reserve Bank of Australia has given their forecast on economic growth, indicating between 2.75 per cent over the year. Previously they were suggesting a range from 2.5 per cent.
•    The AIG Construction PMI showed a slight decrease in January by 2.6 points to 48.2 and his now below the critical 50 point level.
•    All eyes will be on the US non-farm payroll data out at 12:30am Saturday morning with 184,000 expected with the potential for an upward revision for December numbers.

Australian sector watch

Looking over the charts

•    The S&P/ASX200 managed to close above the first resistance point at 5150 after two brilliant upswings in the market, keeping bulls on their toes and the bears slightly cautious.
•    Intraday saw the market rally nearly 40 points within the first hour before consolidation and minor profit taking, driving the price down 25 points before a rally after lunch to leave an extremely positive close.
•    For two straight days the market has rallied nearly 100 points with the stochastic favouring further momentum to the upside but plenty of work to do to continue to break through overhead resistance.

ASX top 200 stock analysis

33% of stocks are showing oversold levels, 10% are showing overbought levels and 43% of stocks are currently above their long term moving average as of close of trading today. View the image below to better understand overbought and oversold levels.

S&P/ASX 200 Gainers and Losers

Top 5 gainers:
•    AUT    AURORA OIL & GAS +56.11%
•    FGE    FORGE GROUP +20.59%
•    AWE    AWE +11.24%
•    BRU    BURU ENERGY +8.94%
•    MML    MEDUSA MINING +8.56%
Top 5 Losers:
•    GFF    GOODMAN FIELDER -3.76%
•    VAH    VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS -2.94%
•    WDC    WESTFIELD GROUP -2.36%
•    WRT    WESTFIELD RETAIL TRUST -2.31%
•    LYC    LYNAS CORPORATION -1.79%