May - The Month That Was.
June 1st, 2010 by Bryden Elssmann
Closing Data
| Current | Change | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow Jones | 10,136.63 | -122.36 | -1.2% |
| NASDAQ | 2,257.04 | 0 | 0.0% |
| S P 500 | 1,089.41 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FTSE 100 | 5,188.43 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Nikkei 225 | 9,768.70 | 5.72 | 0.1% |
| ASX 200 | 4,429.70 | -27.8 | -0.6% |
| COMEX Gold - Dec 09 | 1,215.00 | 0.0% | |
| COMEX Silver - Sep 09 | 18.422 | -0.046 | -0.2% |
| COMEX Copper - Sep 09 | 310.45 | -5.4 | -1.7% |
| WTI Spot | 73.97 | -0.58 | -0.8% |
| AUD-USD | 0.8464 | 0.0007 | 0.1% |
| Aluminium | 2,037.00 | 33.5 | 1.7% |
| Copper | 6,926.00 | 50.5 | 0.7% |
| Lead | 1,821.00 | 44 | 2.5% |
| Nickel | 21,555.00 | -45 | -0.2% |
| Tin | 18,105.00 | 380 | 2.1% |
| Zinc | 1,895.50 | 20 | 1.1% |
May was a tough month; market volatility has seen the ASX 200 trade in a range of 2% or more in 8 of the last 16 days. The last time volatility was this high was in March 2009 (when the market was bottoming). The markets fell from 5025 to an intra-day low of 4175, 850 points or 16.9%, in 26 days, rattling most investors.
The technical correction on a our market has fallen short of a trigger of a “bear market”, -20% move for at least 2 months. Most expect the market to settle into a trading range of 4400 to 4800 over the next 2 to 3 months as there are still too many uncertainties out there for a big breakout to the upside, while the downside should be limited as many blue chip stocks are trading on “cheap” valuations. With the market likely to trade in a tight range, we are urging clients who are trading the “buy & write” to continue to sell calls over their holdings, locking in premium for the month.
Wall St was closed on Monday for the Memorial Day public holiday, with London also closed for the spring bank holiday. Other European markets closed weaker overnight still hurting from Spain’s debt rating downgrade.
With no lead from major overseas markets, the Australian share market is likely to open weaker today with investor focus on the RBA rates decision this afternoon.
The RBA is to announce its decision on rates at 2:30pm Sydney time following its monthly policy meeting. The central bank’s index of commodity prices for May is also out, as well as the ABS retail trade data for April, ABS building approvals for April and the Australian Industry Group/PricewaterhouseCoopers Australian Performance of Manufacturing index for May.
Contact your Freeman Fox Stockbroker on 07 3031 9960 or 1800 003 369 Ext 7.
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