After jumping out of the blocks in early trade, the local market gave back ground throughout Thursday’s session as caution crept in ahead of a key European Central Bank interest rate decision.
A Euro sign sculpture is reflected in a building near the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.A-REITs led the gains with a rise of 1.1 per cent, recovering some of the losses of recent weeks despite another lift in Australian bond yields. Of the blue chips, all the big four banks finished higher, led by the Commonwealth Bank which rose 0.9 per cent to $81.35. BHP and Rio Tinto also eked out gains, closing up 0.1 and 0.6 per cent respectively at $36.97 and $92.68. Telstra rose 0.8 per cent to $3.59 while Goodman Group lifted 2.2 per cent to $13.74.
Benchmark Australian 10-year bond yields continued to advance, lifting to 1.162 per cent, well off the record low of 0.85 per cent struck last month.
Don’t worry, there will now be hourly jawboning from realDonaldTrump about the trade deal to get markets up up and up. Markets must never fall.