Australia's 'Big Four' banks led the sharemarket to its single biggest jump in seven weeks on Thursday, but their supposed 'recovery' has been short-lived with all four returning to the red-zone today.
The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) rose 1.4% yesterday, reversing some of the losses endured by investors over the last couple of months and helping the bourse to avoid the dreaded "technical correction" – defined as a fall of 10% or more from its peak.
But the market's recovery appears to have run out of steam today after it retreated 0.3% to sit at 5540 points which can likely be attributed to the ongoing Greek debt standoff, together with a fall in most commodity prices overnight. Indeed, the market has been led down by the same entities that drove it higher yesterday.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), for instance, has fallen 0.1% to trade at $81.30, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) have dropped 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), which has been the sector's biggest casualty in recent months, has maintained that unwanted feature today, falling 1.2% to $31.60.
Meanwhile, Australia's iron ore miners have given up yesterday's gains even though the commodity recorded a marginal increase in price overnight. BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) acted as the heaviest weight on the market, falling 1% and 0.9% respectively, while Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) managed to buck the trend, rising 0.4%.
Some of the other big losers for the day include Qube Holdings Ltd (ASX: QUB), down 3.1%, Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR), down 4.6% and Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX: BDR), down 5.6%.
With the market trading at a considerable discount to its recent high levels, investors should look to take advantage of some of the high-quality companies trading at attractive prices.
