Range trading

The Asx 200 has recovered almost half of the early losses to be 26 points lower at 4294 as we approach the day's end. US markets fell in response to disappointing employment numbers released on Good Friday, a non-trading day, and slightly worse than expected Chinese inflation. Since the Australian market is marooned in a tight range, I didn't expect much of a reaction and was surprised by the size of the early fall. I bought a few shares here and there which I've flipped out a touch higher. Otherwise, it's a minor down day with my stocks roughly tracking the index.

I've added a new long in gold stock, St Barbara. This is recovering after a recent sell off, led by falls in physical gold. However, this company does not have the political risk of some of the other locally listed gold producers and the weekly chart is making a higher low while the daily would confirm a breakout with a trade at 214. Here's the weekly.

Long at 210 with a stop at 202.

4.13 The index lost another couple of points, down 28 at 4292.