The Grinch. Thu Dec 16

I'm in a grumpy mood this morning after a stream of minor irritations. The market hasn't done much, down 7 after an hour following a slightly weak overnight lead.

The December Spi contract expired at the opening with the usual random moves and it seemed like most of them went against me. It's all settled back now but Qantas is a concern. It's back down at 266 after it looked like it had cleared the congestion and was ready to rally.

Qantas sums up what's been happening more and more as we approach Christmas and volume gets thin. Lots of breakouts are failing and the ones that run seem to fall short of potential.
My other concern this morning is Lynas. After having finally bit the bullet and then gone short, it's now showing signs of resilience, holding up well at 149. I'm wondering whether it could have made a minor new low with no follow through, which is often a good reversal signal. My stop is close by but it's one reason why I don't often cut and reverse - it can be pretty frustrating if you get whipsawed.
On the theme of chasing my tail, I've bought back into Aru. I've got a tight stop at 114 and the second tranche of the issue is trading now so most of the short term overhang should be gone. Long at 120.

11.36 Bought a few Ozl at 168.5 as they've pulled back as hoped. Stop is in the low 160s and it's more than possible that they're making a lower high. However, the trade stacks up because if they continue to rally it should be a strong move to new highs. 

1.56 Just got back to the office and the market has steadily risen from the early lows so that it's now up 12 points.

Ausenco has run hard today. I've been bullish about this but concerned about the rebalancing of the index which sees the stock drop out of the top 200 after the close of business on Friday. It's a nice break though and if there is some index related selling tomorrow and early next week there might be another chance to buy.

2.26 As if to confirm how shifty the market is now, One Steel has retraced most of yesterday's gains. I'm not taking these moves too seriously for the moment. It feels like one of those situations where if you don't like the chart today, then look at it tomorrow because it'll probably look quite different.

3.35 I've got the reverse of the Midas touch today (the Ponting edge?), most positions are moving the wrong way. Lynas is back at 148, at least.

Just bought some more Ozl at 166.

4.10 Time to go home and watch the struggle at the WACA. 9 out of 10 positions have moved against me today with most of them long and the market up 16 points. There's nothing I'm too fussed about though, I think it's just one of those things.