Lightening up. Fri Jan 21

It definitely feels better to have got out of all the stale positions. The FTSE was smashed with commodity stocks hard hit and that was the case for US resource stocks too although the S&P500 index was only down 2 points overall. Base metals and gold fell in London and slightly less severely in the US as worries over Chinese growth dominated.
There hasn't been much follow through so far. Opened a few points lower, rallied back and testing those lows again as we near the end of the first hour.
I'm waiting to see which way the cookie crumbles. Whether we see another failure to maintain a new high or not. If Monday's swing low at 4755 can hold, the index may be able to climb back above 4800.
There are no new positions for me and a couple more stop outs are looking likely with Aru and Mmx drifting back towards recent lows. Here's Mmx.

I had high hopes for this one but if it drifts to 135 I'll stop out. The selling seems quite perfunctory in a few of these stocks as if nobody is particularly bearish but overseas markets are tipping hands.
As I write this, the early support has faded and the market is down 20 in a flash.

11.20 That didn't take long. The index is below 4755 already, at 4752, having been down at 4749. It seems like it will be a sell on rallies situation for now.

12.14 Out of Mmx at 135.5 as it traded down at 135, below the recent swing low.
I'm still in Arafura which held at the recent low but I'm unconvinced so I plan to stop out on a rally.
Karoon is still suspended while Aax is a ray of light, up 3% at 354.
Here's the Aax chart.

1.24 Small recoveries in Shanghai and Hong Kong have helped to stem the bleeding but the index is still 38 points lower.

I'm out of Aru for 139.5 and 140 so just long Aax and Kar.

I don't expect to do anything new today. The sort of thing I'll be looking for next week is shorting opportunities on retracements. For example, Ozl may have made a lower high with this week's peak of 178. I don't want to short it after two panicky days but I'd be interested in the low 170s.

There may be a couple of buying opportunities too. In the case of Western Areas, there's a good chance that the stock can hold above 630, in which case it can rally above the recent high of 690. It would probably look complete if it did that.

2.35 The Shanghai market has had a 1.85% rebound so far and the HSI is up a bit so our market has drawn comfort and rallied to be down 22.

I decided to take a low risk bet on a retracement rally. Lynas has held very well over the last two days and I'm long at 197.5 with a stop at around 190. If we get a retracement then this one, like Wsa, might actually push on to a new high.

4.11 There we go, another week gone by and you certainly couldn't say it was easy money at the moment. The Asx 200 closed down 28 at 4756.