Stodgy Day, 23/2/2010

Nothing much to say today. The market finished virtually flat. Virtually everything was flat.

The A/D Ratio was 0.93 - flat. The UpVol/DownVol Ratio was 0.98 - flat.

The best performing sector was the Financials Sector, up 0.4%. Nothing to get excited about there.

In a general sense the only thing worth commenting on was the disparity, once again, between the 50-Leaders and the Small Ordinaries. 50-Leaders, up 0.1%. Smal Ordinaries, down 0.5%. In itself today's reading is nothing to get carried away about - but it does continue a run of readings in recent weeks where the 50-Leaders are preferred over the Small Ordinaries, i.e., a flight to quality - and bearish in its implications. That is no good as a timing tool, but sets the context for making decisions. This market in the past couple of weeks has been "stodgy" - not just today. Just look at the angle of ascent in the chart of the XAO during this rally - it is quite low. Again - no good as a timing tool - but something to keep in mind.

The candle today was a small dragonfly doji - which at the top of a short-term uptrend often spells a reversal or at least a consolidation.

Given my comments this morning - it looks like we're in for a couple of days of sideways, maybe slightly down, movement.

Cheers

Red

Initial Comments, 21/01/2010

The market was well down today almost 1.%. The XAO has now broken below the trading range which has dominated the intra-day chart for some days.

The MACD is negative but still well above the Zero Line. The RSI is sitting on the mid-line - the demarcation between short term bullish and bearish. Williams %R is registering short-term oversold.

The market had a distinctly defensive stance with the 50 Leaders down -0.6% while the Small Ordinaries was down -1.8%. The best performing sector was a defensive sector (Telecommunications) which scored a +1.2%. (Eat your heart out, Futures Fund.)

The chart below shows the Advance/Decline Ratio has reached a level where a short term bounce is likely. I still think the market still has some way to go before a definite turn-around. So a bounce might just be enough to suck a few bulls back into the market, just in time to bash them again. But - for the time being - I'll be surprised if the market goes below 4800. So there's probably more chop to come. And both bulls and bears will get sliced up.

I may have some more comments later tonight.

Cheers

Red