Today marked a return to the choppy intra-day trading that has been so prevalent over the last month and a half. At the end of the day though, the market managed to hold onto early gains and post a 0.9% advance for the XJO which closed 34.9 points higher on solid volume. Small caps lead the large cap stocks, the Small Ordinaries putting on 1.2%. Other sectors were all in the black with the exception of Health which closed 0.2% lower. After yesterday’s solid effort, stops on the discretionary short positions were tightened right up to take defensive action on some positions and to avoid giving back too much open profit on others. The majority triggered the trailing stops today as a result, leaving us with just a few positions. Not a bad thing in this market where the name of the game is survival – one needs to keep an account in tact for when (not if) the market trends again. Both systematic portfolios require the market to do a bit of work to before switching on again; approximately 153 and 274 points for the ASX and Growth Portfolios respectively.

Similar stock trading tips:

1. Wednesday 7th September, 2011
2. Wednesday 14th September, 2011
3. Wednesday 21st September, 2011
4. Thursday 28th July, 2011