There was precious little excitement to be found for No.11 this morning as a lack of news and generally quiet macro discouraged most interest to leave March’23 edging along quietly in the 19.50’s. Volume started to pick up a little as US traders reached their desks, leading to a small dip to 19.39, however this was quickly picked back up by specs with their support in turn encouraging day trader and algo buying that accelerated the price ahead to 19.68. Unlike yesterday the buying dried up long before the specs were able to entertain thoughts of challenging 20c, and somewhat disappointingly for those craving a move from the current range/malaise it was long liquidation which followed to erase the gains and send the price back to the 19.50 area. This momentum continued into the close, levels breaching the daily low and trading down to 19.36 and settling at 19.4. Whether this prompts a sustained change in sentiment to the downside remains to be seen, for now it appears that the 19-20.5c range is here to stay.
A marginally lower opening seemed likely to set the tone for a slow morning, however the early stages were enlivened slightly with a dip back to $533.70 which drew out some defensive buying to bring prices back up into the range. Things did then calm down which made the late morning/early afternoon period rather tedious in a tight range, awaiting some input from the US in the hope it could breathe new life into the market. Some light selling did manifest which sent prices back down towards the lows but we then saw the desire from longs to defend the market re-emerge with a sharp move back into credit which saw March’23 reach $540.80 before stalling when the buying eased up. The see-saw action continued, eventually closing at $534.7 towards the lower end of the range.
