Winding down. Thu July 9

Tomorrow is my last trading day before a break and given how dull the market is I'm mostly unwinding stuff. The US market was flat overnight, Europeans a bit down, gold, oil and base metals weak but after the US close Alcoa reported a slightly better than expected result so US futures have rallied. The Aussie market is cautious, down 9 after outperforming yesterday. It's also a bit unpredictable with Ncm - up 1.6% after gold fell $20 - an example. The AUD was weak so that explains part of the outperformance.

I cut my short in Qan for 187 (v 185) and my long in Tls for 336 (v 334) as nothing much happens. I'm still long Qbe which is rallying fractionally in a choppy fashion. I've also done a trade in Fmg, buying at 353, driven by boredom and the desire to have an interest. Here's the 30 minute chart. It looks ok, but it would have been smarter to wait for a break of yesterday's closing high of 355. As it is, I'm now hoping that this morning's chop is a completed correction and we're ready to rally.

12.39 Out of Qbe at 1965 (v 1962) as nothing much is happening. Only Fmg is left now.

3.17 The market is very cautiously working its way back to breakeven. Still down 4 points but I get the impression that it's building the base for a late run.

Looking at the Xjo chart, the reversal day yesterday looks similar to one about 11 bars back - the market may be in a downtrend but is trying for a retracement rally.

4.10 My hopes for a late run have proved to be overoptimistic as the market closed down 5 points. Sold out of Fmg as it pushed up to 356 but couldn't continue on. Looks too much like a failed rally to want to hold this overnight, out at 347 (v 353).