Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

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Despite a weaker than expected Chinese Manufacturing Flash PMI read, the Aussie Dollar and Aussie 200 index managed to rally off their intraday lows, pushing up towards their recent highs.

What are traders talking about today?

•    S&P/ASX200 gained 8.8 points or +0.16% on volume of $3.2 billion, closing at 5346.9.
•    Despite the lower than expected China PMI numbers, traders are anticipating a possible stimulus from China, should any further weakness unfold. It appears to be a case of bad news is now good news.
•    The Nikkei Index has managed a healthy bounce off recent lows, rallying 200 points or 1.4 per cent, but has plenty of overhead resistance to contend with over the next few trading sessions.
•    On Friday’s trading session, Gold managed to rally to $1,334.69 per ounce but Monday’s price action saw some retreating, pushing the price back down to $1,328 per ounce as I write.
•    The Yuan was getting sold off heavily last week, hitting a 13 month low, but managed to remain relatively stable between Friday and Monday’s trading sessions.
•    Russia continues to maintain pressure on the Ukranian border, which is something we’ll all have to watch very closely as the situation either intensified or slowly winds down.

Economic news

•    China Flash Manufacturing PMI dropped to the lowest level in 8 months, hitting 48.1 versus an expected 48.7, which initially sent the Aussie Dollar and S&P/ASX200 down, but that was short lived, rallying straight back up to post PMI data release.
•    Plenty of economic activity in stall for Britain this week with CPI on Tuesday, Retail sales on Thursday and the Current Account on Friday, so expect some volatility around the GBPUSD this week.

Australian sector watch

Looking over the charts

•    An early morning sell off of 35 points was not enough to dampen the enthusiasm among traders, and despite worse than expected Chinese PMI data, the Aussie 200 index managed a strong rally, right into the close, ending the session on a positive note.
•    With slightly negative US leads over the weekend, market action on Monday will be considered extremely positive, bouncing off recent support above the 5295 mark.
•    Resistance continues to sit around the 5345-5365 level, with a final near term resistance point sitting at 5377.5.

ASX top 200 stock analysis

41% of stocks are showing oversold levels, 9% are showing overbought levels and 54% 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:
•    KMD    KATHMANDU HOLDINGS +11.29%
•    TSE    TRANSFIELD SERVICES +7.69%
•    BDR    BEADELL RESOURCES +4.62%
•    UGL    UGL +4.56%
•    OZL    OZ MINERALS +4.09%
Top 5 Losers:
•    LYC    LYNAS CORPORATION -8.70%
•    MTS    METCASH -5.26%
•    ALL    ARISTOCRAT LEISURE -4.23%
•    FBU    FLETCHER BUILDING -3.59%
•    SKE    SKILLED GROUP -3.41%