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So as the trading day approaches a close we have the ASX200 looking to finish on a weak note in a similar fashion to yesterday which saw “some” buying interest enter the market in the latter part of the afternoon session. The ASX200 finished the day lower by 0.63% or 37.60 at 5937.10 after trading as low as 5922.80 during the day.

As this week comes to a close the ASX200 pushes back towards the key 6000 level with a close at 5961.40 for a gain of 18.50 points or 0.31% ahead of the afternoon match.  Tonight markets will be looking to employment numbers due for release in the United States and any potential impact on interest rate markets.

As our trading day draws to a close the ASX200 finished at 5903.00 for a loss of 59.40 points or -1.00%, just managing to hang on to 5900 after it was looking a little dicey at some stages during the day. The big question will be how Europe will first respond to the news of Gary Cohn’s resignation and will the US recover from the lows seen during our time zone or will the roller coaster ride extend into their trading day.

So we opened higher and stayed higher for most of the day with the ASX200 closing at 5968.00 for a gain 67.40 points or 1.14%. Gains were widespread today after a strong rally on offshore markets overnight which saw the Dow higher by 336.70 points or 1.37%, S&P 500 +29.69 points or 1.10% and the Nasdaq +72.84 points or +1.00%

As our day draws to a close the fear of rising yields weighed on the local which was also driven by key earnings releases locally. The ASX200 finished the day lower by 40.90 points or 0.68% at 6016.00 after looking like losses would have been a little more limited earlier in the day. The afternoon session saw a little more widespread selling as potential nervousness crept into the market place ahead of tonight’s European open.

Following on from a strong lead on Wall Street which saw the Dow higher 347.51  points or +1.39%, S&P500 +43.34 points or 1.60% and the Nasdaq +127.30 points or 1.77% the local market opened higher and spent most of the day trading a in a relatively tight range.

As all eyes were on the Japanese yen strengthening this afternoon after it traded to a low of 106.33 the local market decided it was time to continue to push higher. The ASX200 finished at 5909.00 for a gain of 1.16% or +67.80 points. Gains today were widespread as the banks and in particular the miners put in a strong performance. At the big end of town BHP finished +4.56%, Rio Rallied 4.06% and FMG traded 5.69% higher.  Other performances worth mentioning were HT1 gained 13.14%, RSG +7.91%, ORG +6.86% and WHC +5.91%. When I normally write  these updates I usually scratch  around for stocks that have traded approximately +/-3.00% but as you can see from today’s price action it was very easy to see why the gains in the index were so large considering the size of the move in some of the individual stocks. Just as with the big moves higher we saw some big moves lower today. IPH -13.14%, DMP continued lower -7.53% and S32 -5.41% so all in all a busy day on both the positive and negative side of the ledger. Tonight I will be keeping an eye on both bond yields in the U.S and also the Yen just in case the markets decide to go into another tail spin as per last night’s CPI release.  IPH Chart attached

The ASX200 finsihed the day lower by 17.30 points or -0.30% at 5820.70. After some early weakness in the session we recovered and traded in positive territory when we reached a high of 5840.50 later in the day. Nereves and profit taking got the better of the market as the index retreated to close just 17.30 points lower. Markets focused on retail stocks today which were on "sale" today and traded at decent discounts to Fridays closing prices after JBH came out with lower than expected earnings which saw its share price lower by 8.00% on the day. MYR closed another 5.98% lower following on from its poor result also on Friday. Competitor HVN also traded lower today closing at $4.25 for a loss of 3.635 on the day. Other notable decliners today included SWM -5.71%, SYR -4.26% and WEb which declined 4.06%. It wasn't all bad news today as we saw some decent moves to the topside by GXY +5.59%, INM +5.33% and NXT +4.53%. In the big cap space we saw the miners BHP +1.48%, RIO +1.48% and FMG +2.39% contribute to the gains while the banks all finished lower NAB -0.80%, ANZ -0.68%, WBC -0.69% AND CBA -0.49% were always goingt o struggle on a day when the banking inquiry kicked off. The Australia Dollar is a little bid going into the London session at 0.7835, Spot Gold is at $1223.67 while the Yen is steady against the USD at 108.70.  MYR chart attached.

So the week comes to a close with the ASX200 closing at 5838.00 for a loss of 52.70 points or -0.89% which was probably far better than most would have expected given the extent of the moves we saw in offshore markets last night. The number of stocks trading in positive territory gradually increased as the afternoon progressed but no doubt most will be going home today with a degree of scepticism as to whether or not we will see another wave of selling or see some squaring up in the U.S tonight.  In addition to the gold miners listed earlier we saw the likes of JBH +0.46% , FMG +0.60%, REA +2.04 and CAR +2.32% all finished the day stronger. In currency markets the AUDUSD is trading at 0.7778, EURUSD  1.2251, USDJPY, 108.94 for what remained a relatively quiet session during our day. All eyes will be on bond markets tonight to determine whether or not continued perceived increases in rates will send equity markets into another spin.

As we get to the end of another day in what was a somehhat less hectic session to yesterday the ASX200 managed to post its high for the day within the first 20 minutes of trading at 5938.80 before easing off for the remainder of the day to finish at 5876.80 a gain of 0.75% or a gain of 43.50 points.  NAB - 0.28%, ANZ -0.39%,and WBC  -0.10% joined CBA -0.49% in the red for the day and would have provided a decent anchor to the main index heading higher. MQG finished the session higher on positive results +3.93% along with TWE 3.73% and RIO +3.82% ahead of its earnings announcement this afternoon.  Other notable movers today included GXY +11.46%, MIN +8.43% and PLS +6.25% all of the usuals suspects we have seen of late with the pick up in volatility on both both the top and bottom side.  SVW finished 3.85% lower, EVN -3.18% and SBM -2.70%. The AUDUSD is trading marginally lower at 0.7880. EURUSD 1.2389, USDJPY 109.20 and spot gold remains towards USD $1330.00 per ounce going into the London open.