End of Day Report

What happened today? ASX 200 down 28.1 points at 5080.5 as resources rally on bargain hunting. Chinese data sinks gains despite Shanghai up 0.69% although Tokyo down 1%.US Futures up 42 points helping sentiment. After early morning falls that took the ASX 200 below 5070, the resources picked themselves up, patched up their wounds and attempted a rally getting into positive territory before Chinese numbers took the wind out of the sails. Unfortunately, the rally could not hold despite US futures showing a positive opening and we slid into the close a few points above our lows. The bloodbath of yesterday was a little overdone and it was inevitable that we would see some bargain hunting at some stage. Although oil and iron ore swooned they held and that was enough to encourage a few hardy souls back in. Santos(STO)+5.74% a big loser yesterday and BHP +0.65% both bounced hard. At one stage BHP touched 1671 cents following falls in London. (VIEW LINK)