Atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down. Fri Feb 5

The fear of contagion affected markets last night with Portugal the new target as a bond auction was unsuccessful while Spain is also in the spotlight. Allied to fears of a jobless recovery or perhaps further unemployment in the US the mood is now distinctly frosty. An hour into trading and we're down 2.6% and waiting for Asian markets to open to gauge the mood. I suspect we can fall another 1% today because the US markets finished on their lows and it's another leg down.
So far I've bought back the last 5,000 Ipl for 324.5 (v 338) which is another 675 gain, 2300 in total less 33 costs. I've also bought back 2,500 Cey at 342 (v 365) for a gain of 575 - this is the second tranche of selling, the first was done at lower levels.
I do have a new trade to feature although as the market gapped down it's not going to be the greatest of entry points. I'm trying to short on the early oversold bounce. The stock is Boral which is a new one for my watchlist but I've got rid of Csr because there's too much corporate and legal action going on.
Boral fell through support on Monday and had a good retracement which briefly popped through the previous breakdown level at 567. It's failed again and looks less mature than some of the other downtrends. So far I'm short 7,500 at a tick under 535 and the stock is at 538.

Click to enlarge

1.11 The market has held a level of down 2.8% through the Asian openings with those markets settling down about the same amount. The Xjo index level is 4493 which is below the November lows and I'm hard pressed to see where the next support levels are. There's a minor one at 4400 and another around 4280. It's possible that we'll turn around and regain the 4500 level either today or early next week but with the European sovereign debt crisis growing by the day, the selling momentum is quite strong. Here's the Xjo daily chart; it looks like it's in a 5th wave but there's plenty of room for extension.

I bought back the other 2,500 Cey at 347 for another 450 profit, 1025 all up less 12 dollars cost. Still short 10k at 354.

3.11 It's been pretty dull vis a vis intraday trading and we've actually rallied back above 4500 as markets in this time zone steady. The epicentre of the crisis is Southern Europe so there's not a lot of action here and even the US overnight futures are flat.
I've had some buying on for Awc but I haven't got set. Meanwhile, Tse is almost square on the day. Bld is up at 550 although I've done a bit of jobbing around there and at least got my average down to 540 for short 10k.

4.13 Once again we rallied into the close to finish down 2.3% at 4514. My short positions moved against me with Bld finishing at 551, Cey at 356 and Tse was actually up at 385. I didn't short more Tse because it looks like it's bounced off support, although I think it's just temporary. Awc at least finished on its lows and I bought 10k back at 156 to leave me short 20k. Profit 650 on that portion.
Although it was positive that we held the 4500 mark on the Xjo index, I'm sceptical that it was wise because the nature of the attacks on the European bond market are such that it probably doesn't matter what central banks or governments say or do; the fever will have to run its course.