OzRant for Wednesday, July 1st

Ords slides 1.91% on below-average volume and losers dominate breadth stats: sector indices down across the board. Worst sector – Property Trusts (-2.9%): worst big cap – Stockland (-4.4%).

I finally found a way to stop WordPress from stripping out the onclick (or other JavaScript) events that make the links open in nicely-sized popup boxes. Hat tip to db0 at http://dbzer0.com, who is strong in the Force; he pointed out that a plugin exists (called "You Can Javascript", which does exactly what it says in the title).

I wonder if there’s a WordPress plugin that will help me get ripped abs? It would not surprise me – the gap between WP and other blog software is as wide as the gap between human emotions and the guttural soul-grunts of Dick Cheney.

Leaving aside the continuing travails of your Beloved GT on the interstices of the daily Ranty-goodness, it was interesting to see the odd 20-point crack downwards in the Ords between 3:15 and 3:30.

It was quite obvious that someone was unloading a reasonably large slug of stock at market – either that, or someone came back pissed from a long lunch and leaned on their keyboard.

Usually that only happens on a Friday.

Major Market Indices

The broad market – the All Ordinaries (XAO) – dipped reasonably hard, registering a loss of 75.5 points (1.91%), finishing at 3872.3 points. The index hit an intraday high of 3947.8 at 10:00 am, while the low for the day was 3860.7 – set at 11:39 am Sydney time.

Total volume traded on the ASX was 1.77bn units, 9.3% below its 10-day average of 1.96bn shares.The ASX’s daily listing of all stocks included 1218 different 3-letter FPO’s which traded (i.e., had non-zero trade volume). Of these, 424 issues rose, with volume in rising issues totalling 735.4m units; there were 481 declining stocks, which traded aggregate declining volume of 853.6m shares.

Of the 496 All Ordinaries components, 127 rose while 273 fell. Volume was tilted in favour of the losers by a margin of 2.4:1, with 302.43m shares traded in gainers while 731.23m shares traded in the day’s losers.

The Index that forms the cash basis for the SPI Futures – the S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) – registered a loss of 69.7 points (1.76%), closing out the session at 3885.2 points.

Name	Close	+/-(%)
All Ordinaries	3872.30	-75.50 (1.9%)
ASX 20	2342.10	-49.90 (2.1%)
ASX 50	3893.50	-81.30 (2.0%)
ASX 100	3174.70	-65.70 (2.0%)
ASX 200	3885.20	-69.70 (1.8%)
ASX 300	3880.40	-68.30 (1.7%)
ASX Mid-Cap 50	3488.60	-66.70 (1.9%)
ASX Small Ordinaries	2045.40	-36.70 (1.8%)

The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market – the ASX 20 Leaders (XTL) – was taken to the woodshed somewhat, sliding 49.9 points (2.09%), closing out the session at 2342.1 points.

Among the 20 big guns, the news was pretty dismal: not a single stock registered a gain for the session. A total of 132.31m units was traded in the losing index componentsThe stocks which make up the index traded a total of 132.31m units; none of the index components managed a gain. while the 21 decliners had volume traded totalling 132.31m units.

On the less salubrious side of the big-cap fence, the following stocks were the worst-performed within the index:

• Stockland (SGP), -$0.14 (4.36%) to $3.07 on volume of 9.9 million shares;
• Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG), -$1.65 (4.22%) to $37.45 on volume of 1.8 million shares;
• Westfield Group (WDC), -$0.42 (3.69%) to $10.96 on volume of 10.4 million shares;
• National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB), -$0.75 (3.34%) to $21.69 on volume of 7.6 million shares; and
• Westpac Banking Corp (WBC), -$0.57 (2.81%) to $19.68 on volume of 6.4 million shares.

The ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) The small end of the market fell, but still outperformed its large-cap counterpart. The Small Ords registered a loss of 36.7 points (1.76%), closing out the session at 2045.4 points.

Among the stocks that make up the Small Caps index, 64 index components finished to the upside, and of the rest, 129 closed lower for the session.

The 215 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 531.26m units: volume in the 64 gainers totalling 242.54m shares, with trade totalling 260.1m units in the index’s 129 declining components. The major percentage gainers within the index were

• Valad Property Group (VPG), +$0.03 (36.99%) to $0.10 on volume of 135.2 million shares;
• Wattyl Ltd (WYL), +$0.07 (11.82%) to $0.62 on volume of 125.3 thousand shares;
• MEO Australia (MEO), +$0.03 (10.87%) to $0.26 on volume of 9.3 million shares;
• Lynas Corporation (LYC), +$0.05 (9.68%) to $0.51 on volume of 3.9 million shares; and
• United Minerals Corporation NL (UMC), +$0.08 (9.2%) to $0.89 on volume of 674.9 thousand shares.

In the red-zone of the little-stock index, the following list represents the biggest downers (in terms of percentage decline):

• Elders Ltd (ELD), -$0.03 (8.77%) to $0.26 on volume of 5.8 million shares;
• Australand Property Group (ALZ), -$0.04 (8.33%) to $0.44 on volume of 7.1 million shares;
• Equinox Resources (EQN), -$0.24 (8.05%) to $2.74 on volume of 3.1 million shares;
• Carnarvon Petroleum (CVN), -$0.06 (7.36%) to $0.76 on volume of 7.3 million shares; and
• FKP Property Group (FKP), -$0.04 (6.73%) to $0.49 on volume of 2 million shares.

Index Changes

Market Breadth

GICS Industry Indices

Among the 11 industry indices, the news was universally negative: not a single sector managed to break into the "Win" column.

Since none of the industry sectors registered a gain for the session, there is no point in burdening ourselves with the internal behaviour of advancing sectors… on to the losers.

The worst-performed index for the session was Property Trusts (XPJ), which dipped 21.9 points (2.92%) to 727.1 points. The 22 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 370.43m units; The 13 decliners had volume traded totalling 185.34m units, and 6 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 170.55m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were

• Macquarie Office Trust (MOF), -$0.02 (7.14%) to $0.20 on volume of 69.6 million shares;
• ING Office Fund (IOF), -$0.03 (6.52%) to $0.43 on volume of 6.9 million shares;
• Babcock & Brown Japan Property Trust (BJT), -$0.02 (5.41%) to $0.35 on volume of 2.7 million shares;
• Dexus Property Group (DXS), -$0.04 (4.67%) to $0.72 on volume of 14.3 million shares; and
• Macquarie Countrywide Trust (MCW), -$0.03 (4.59%) to $0.52 on volume of 7.3 million shares.

Just missing out on the wooden spoon was Financials ex Property Trusts (XXJ), which slid 87.2 points (2.03%) to 4207.2 points. The 25 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 62.84m units; The 21 decliners had volume traded totalling 55.82m units, and 4 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 7.02m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were

• Australand Property Group (ALZ), -$0.04 (8.33%) to $0.44 on volume of 7.1 million shares;
• FKP Property Group (FKP), -$0.04 (6.73%) to $0.49 on volume of 2 million shares;
• Tower Australia Ltd (TAL), -$0.18 (6.43%) to $2.62 on volume of 883.3 thousand shares;
• Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG), -$1.65 (4.22%) to $37.45 on volume of 1.8 million shares; and
• National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB), -$0.75 (3.34%) to $21.69 on volume of 7.6 million shares.

Third-to-last amongst the sector indices was Materials (XMJ), which slid 197.3 points (1.95%) to 9942.3 points. The 46 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 186.38m units; The 38 decliners had volume traded totalling 164.98m units, and 6 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 9.19m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were

• Equinox Resources (EQN), -$0.24 (8.05%) to $2.74 on volume of 3.1 million shares;
• Independence Group NL (IGO), -$0.3 (6.48%) to $4.33 on volume of 312.7 thousand shares;
• Aquarius Platinum (Bermuda) (AQP), -$0.27 (5.56%) to $4.59 on volume of 911 thousand shares;
• Orica Ltd (ORI), -$1.07 (4.93%) to $20.65 on volume of 1.2 million shares; and
• Sino Gold Mining Ltd (SGX), -$0.24 (4.63%) to $4.94 on volume of 1.1 million shares.

Sector Indices

All Ordinaries Major Movers

All Ords Volume Leaders

All Ords Percentage Gainers

All Ords Percentage Losers