The Australian share market has followed Wall Street down on Thursday, as inflation woes and commodity prices worry investors.
The ASX 200 had a shaky day on Wednesday, amid news that inflation was rising. It eventually ended flat.
The benchmark had lost 0.4 per cent on open but recovered some ground by midday.
It ended the day 0.3 per cent down.
The major losers include miners and other cyclical stocks, following a trend on Wall Street that hit these sectors, too.
Champion Iron was down 4.7 per cent, Mineral Resources down 1.9 per cent, and Alumina had lost 4.7 per cent.
Crown has stopped making gains, two days after it was announced the casino operator was unlikely to lose its licence in Victoria.
It ended down 1.8 per cent on Thursday.
However, it has still overall gained around 7 per cent this week.
On the flip side, ANZ was up 0.8 per cent after releasing its annual results.
Its profit is up 72 per cent to $6.1 billion.
The bank's chief executive, Shayne Elliott, said some of that growth was due to growth in home loans during the COVID property boom.
"Home loan revenue growth was in the low double digits," he said.
"However, second-half volumes were impacted by a competitive refinancing market, customers paying down their loans faster and processing issues."
Boral had also gained 4.6 per cent while JB Hi-Fi was up 3.3 per cent.
Canada ending QE as economy bounces back
The Australian share market's downer mood on Thursday follows mixed fortunes on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 being dragged lower by oil prices and a pullback in Treasury yields.
But the big news was out of Canada, where its central bank made some surprising statements.
The Bank of Canada signalled that its rates could rise as early as April 2022.
It's also ending quantitative easing or bond buying.
That was due to what it said was robust economic growth, high vaccination rates, and strong employment gains as the pandemic eases.
"There is an outside chance of a hike in January 2022," ANZ notes.
The local currency is relatively stable against the greenback, after a spike yesterday when Australia's inflation data was announced.
That was due to investors betting interest rates would rise sooner than expected.
"AUD/USD is roughly unchanged just above 0.75 after yesterday's CPI induced volatility," ANZ notes.
"Underlying inflation was stronger than both the RBA and the market expected.
The European Central Bank meets on Thursday and is expected to take a dovish stance.
The German government cut its 2021 growth forecast for this year, as supply bottlenecks for semiconductors and rising energy costs delay recovery in Europe's largest economy.
Germany's 10-year bond yield fell to its lowest in more than a week and its yield curve flattened.
