Buying in the big banks helped the ASX overcome early wobbles to post modest gains, as investors wade through a number of company updates.
The benchmark S&P;/ASX 200 overcame some early wobbles to edge higher over the course of the trading session, finishing up 9 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 5924.2. The broader All Ordinaries index rose 0.1 per cent.
Weighing on investors was a measure of disappointment over a lack of detail on US tax cuts, announced by the US administration on Wednesday night. Fairmont Equities managing director Michael Gable said markets will need a few days to digest the impact of the announcement.
"It was a typical [US president Donald] Trump situation - lots of talk and big numbers, but not much detail," Mr Gable said.
"Wednesday night's action was weak towards the end of the session and I think that impacted the ASX. Our market just seems a bit confused about where to go from here."
A sharp dip in the the US dollar leading into Thursday's session may also have halted the week's early momentum.
"Foreign money doesn't want to invest in Australia if they think the Aussie dollar is coming down, which could keep a lid on our markets," Mr Gable said.
Providing support to the index were the big banks, as investors positioned themselves ahead of half-year profit results from big four lenders, beginning next week. Westpac rose 1 per cent, NAB and ANZ added 0.8 per cent, while CBA rose 0.6 per cent. Macquarie pushed 1 per cent higher to $92.28 a share and within sight of its pre-GFC closing high of $96.50.
Qantas surged 5 per cent higher as it outlined a new route flying direct from Perth to London. Brambles pushed up 2.7 per cent, while South32 was one of the few miners to trade in the black, adding 1.1 per cent despite revealing a mixed set of production results.
Wesfarmers shed 1.5 per cent after its results revealed low levels of sales growth across most of its brands. Competitor Woolworths was flat.
Mining stocks were also firmly lower. BHP Billiton shed 0.9 per cent, Rio Tinto was down 1.2 per cent while Fortescue lost 3.2 per cent.
Energy stocks fell sharply after the government said it would move to restrict gas exports unless domestic needs were met. Origin Energy fell 3.6 per cent, Santos lost 5.5 per cent and AGL Energy closed 1.3 per cent lower.
Newcrest Mining was down 1.8 per cent despite most gold miners enjoying a day in the black. Australia's largest gold producer told the market on Thursday that underground mining had been halted at its Cadia mine after an earthquake.
Stock Watch: Qantas
Qantas surged 5.0 per cent to $4.21 off two separate, complimentary analyst notes on Wednesday. The first, by Macquarie, said the airline has room to initiate $500 million a year in share buybacks, which would increase earnings per share by 32 per cent by the 2020 financial year. "As the company has no franking credits currently...the most prudent form of distribution is via buy-back," wrote Macquarie's analysts, who think Qantas could start this process at the next full-year result in August.
Meanwhile, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgraded the airline to a "buy", with analyst Matthew Spence saying the new Perth-London Boeing Dreamliner services, announced on Thursday and due to start in 2018, will make a "material impact" to the company's earnings.
Trade Price Index
Figures released on Thursday showed exports of Australia's key commodities have given another lift to the terms of trade. The Australian Bureau of Statistics international trade price indexes showed exports jumped 9.4 per cent in the March quarter for an annual rate of 29.1 per cent, the biggest increase since March 2009. In contrast, imports rose by a more modest 1.2 per cent in the quarter and fell 0.6 per cent over the year. JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy said export strength is across Australia's major export commodities, with prices paid for metal ores, gas and coal all moving sharply higher.
Australian Dollar
The Aussie dollar managed to steady during the day and bumped slightly higher following Treasurer Scott Morrison's speech at midday. The local currency was fetching US74.9c at market close. Currency traders will be focusing on Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe's speech on Thursday evening, listening for any monetary policy clues. The local currency had managed to recover after dropping 0.9 per cent on Monday night, its lowest bid against the US dollar since January 13. That followed Wednesday's inflation print and a selloff in commodity currencies on speculation the US might withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Bank of Japan
The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady and offered a more upbeat view of the economy than last month, signalling its confidence that a pick-up in overseas demand will help sustain an export-driven recovery. But the central bank slightly cut its inflation forecast for this fiscal year in a quarterly review of its projections, suggesting that it will maintain its massive monetary stimulus for the time being to achieve its ambitious 2 per cent target.
Trump Tax
The announcement of the Trump tax plan had little effect on Wall Street, despite investors earlier this week sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq through 6000 for the first time and helped the Dow Jones industrial average flirt with 21,000. This apathy spilled over to the ASX with local investors turning their attention to corporate news. Some of President Donald Trump's tax plan had been mostly baked in to the rising stock market, but the lack of details in the announcement, especially regarding timing and key details, left investors unimpressed.