Day traders' weekend lounge May 31 - June 2

Thanks afternoon crew.

End-of-day summary:

The share market avoided a second straight losing month thanks to a rebound this afternoon as a retreat in bond yields helped stock investors look past Wednesday's unexpected rise in inflation.

The ASX 200 rallied 73.5 points or 0.96% for a monthly advance of 38 points or 0.5%.

The modest headline gain for the month masks a volatile ride as the index swung through a 344-point trading range from near two-month lows towards all-time highs and back down again.

Today's best returns came from gold miners, energy producers and the unloved consumer staples sector. Small caps outperformed the wider market: the Small Ords jumped 1.76%, mirroring a similar move by the Russell 2000 in the US.

Large-cap US stocks finished lower overnight as gains in rate-sensitive sectors were outweighed by declines in tech following a weak outlook from cloud-computing firm Salesforce. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%.