The S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.6% to 6519.5, snapping a five-session losing streak and tracking the recovery across much of the region, after China signaled it wouldn’t allow the yuan to fall much further.
The rise, while broad, was led by property trusts and gold miners, often bought as safe havens. Commonwealth Bank held back gains in the banking sector, falling 1.4% after missing expectations with its full-year earnings. Suncorp jumped 4.8% with its own results. Reporting season continues to build, with AGL Energy, Insurance Australia and Mirvac’s annual reports due tomorrow. 

A flight to safety that drove down bond yields globally sparked renewed volatility in the stock market intraday, highlighting continued uncertainty about how the trade and currency battle between the U.S. and China will play out.
Major U.S. stock indexes fell sharply before clawing back some of their losses in trading midday. The S&P 500 was recently down about 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recently fell about 142 points, or 0.6%, after dropping 589 points in early trading. The Nasdaq Composite fell about 0.1%. The large swings come a day after stocks rebounded to break a streak of declines amid trade tensions.
The prospect of lower interest rates around the world stoked investors’ anxiety about the economy after trade tensions between two of the world’s biggest economies have already rattled many. Policymakers in India, New Zealand and Thailand moved aggressively to support growth and inflation, all cutting interest rates by more than investors had expected.
That helped prompt investors to buy government bonds and gold-assets considered relatively safe-while selling U.S. stocks and oil. Gold prices topped $1,500 a troy ounce for the first time in six years. Meanwhile, U.S. crude futures headed for their lowest close in seven months.
The Federal Reserve trimmed rates last week, and investors have recently ramped up wagers that they will continue to cut rates. Investors are putting 60% odds that the Fed will lower rates another 0.75 percentage point this year, up from 8% last week, according to CME Group.

Silver prices surged by the most in nearly three years and gold settled sharply above an important psychological level at $1,500, amid a round of easy-money policies that helped to stoke fresh appetite for the perceived safety of precious metals.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note’s fall to new lows not seen since 2016 below 1.7%, also helped to drive demand for bullion.
September silver surged 75.1 cents, or nearly 4.6%, to end at $17.196 an ounce, after gaining or 0.3% on Tuesday, breaching its own psychologically important level above $17.
That marks silver’s highest level since 2018, and the firmest one-day gain for gold’s sister metal one point basis since Sept. 6, 2016 and July 2016 on a percentage basis, according to FactSet data.
Meanwhile, December gold on Comex added $35.40, or 2.4%, to finish at $1,519.60, marking the highest level for the precious metal since 2013 based on most-active contracts, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The gain also is the most-active contract’s largest daily advance since June 20 when the precious metal surged $48.10 or 3.6%, according to FactSet data.
Elsewhere on Comex, October platinum added $17.80, or 2.1%, to $871 an ounce. September palladium shed $26.70, or 1.9%, to settle at $1,410.30 an ounce.
September copper rose 1.35 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $2.571 a pound.

U.S. oil prices ended 4.7% lower at $51.09 a barrel, the lowest closing price since January, in a selloff fueled by worries of both oversupply and under-demand.
U.S.-China trade tensions continued to stir concerns of lower global economic growth that will curb demand, while a weekly EIA report showed U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories unexpectedly rose.

China’s central bank set its official yuan rate at the weakest since 2008, but still kept it below the symbolic seven-yuan-a-dollar level, at 6.9996. The offshore yuan Wednesday was down 0.4% against the U.S. dollar at 7.0784.
Elsewhere, the New Zealand dollar fell 1.4% against the U.S. dollar after its central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates beyond economists’ forecasts. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered its official cash rate by 0.5 percentage point and signaled it could
soon adopt unorthodox policy amid a deteriorating global growth outlook.

The Stoxx Europe 600 ticked slightly higher, rising 0.2%.
UniCredit UCG cut its revenue guidance for the year due to an environment of low-interest rates. The bank’s second-quarter net profit rose 81% to €1.85 billion ($2.07 billion) following its sale of online broker FinecoBank.
Glencore reported a 32% drop in core profit as falling copper prices hit the commodities producer and trader. The Anglo-Swiss miner also revealed it would halt production at the world’s largest cobalt mine. The economic viability of Mutanda, in the DRC, has been reduced due to lower cobalt prices.
Bayer and Lanxess both made considerable gains after agreeing to sell their stakes in chemical site operator Currenta to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets for €3.5 billion. Bayer, which held a 60% stake in  Currenta, jumped 6% in early trading.

The Shanghai Composite Index and Japan’s Nikkei both declined around 0.3% and Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.4%.
China’s central bank on Wednesday set its official yuan rate at the weakest since 2008, but still kept it below the symbolic seven-yuan-a-dollar level, at 6.9996.
Hong Kong stocks snapped a five-session losing streak that brought the Hang Seng Index below 26000.00 for the first time since January. The HSI closed 0.1% higher at 25997.03.
Indian stocks fell after the Reserve Bank of India lowered its forecast for India’s GDP growth this year and cut interest rates more than expected. The BSE Sensex closed 0.8% lower at 36690.50, among the worst performers in the region as the central bank’s move confirmed concerns about an economic slowdown.
Singapore shares closed higher, with the FTSE Straits Times Index up 0.5% at 3184.69, supported by bank and commodity stocks.