Local shares shrugged off a wave of selling overseas, rising for a third session towards break-even for the week.
The ASX 200 rallied 17 points or 0.3% to 6193 as the big banks extended yesterday's rebound and bond alternatives benefitted from overnight turmoil in the US treasury market. Gold stocks improved 1.7%, financials 0.5%, consumer staples 0.5% and utilities 0.3%. The index started the week at 6208, but fell sharply over the first two sessions before launching a revival on Wednesday.
Overnight, the Dow dropped 0.75% to its heaviest loss in two months as bond yields surged to seven-year highs. The Nasdaq dived 1.81% and the S&P 500 0.82%. However, analysts cautioned that bond yields were rising for broadly positive reasons.
“It’s important to focus on the fundamentals - the global economy is still in pretty good shape, in particular the US and that’s why yields are rising,” Anne Anderson, head of Australian fixed income at UBS Asset Management, told Bloomberg. “So I wouldn’t be looking at a significant increase in US yields from here.”
While S&P 500 futures rebounded 1.25 points or 0.04% this morning, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.72% and Japan's Nikkei 0.8%. Trade on China's Shanghai Composite remained suspended for a public holiday.
Crude oil futures recovered 50 cents or 0.67% this morning to US$74.83 a barrel. Gold futures advanced $1.50 or 0.1% to US$1,203.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 70.69 US cents.
Trading: after declaring yesterday that the market was sparking up, there was a terrible inevitability that I'd find nothing today. Volumes didn't look great among the trades I considered. Came close to pulling the trigger on BIT, but wanted it a few pips lower by way of a safety net. Nap time?
