The Australian dollar has risen Wednesday, trading at 72.04 US cents up from yesterday’s 71.72 US cents.

One Australian dollar buys 76.74 Japanese yen up from yesterday’s 76.13 Japanese yen; 60.84 Euro cents up from 60.70 Euro cents; 54.77 British pence down from 54.80 British pence; 109.85 NZ cents down from yesterday’s 109.93 NZ cents.

Yesterday, banks and tech companies were the winners on a stronger Aussie share market, but more Qantas layoffs and jobs data showed little economic recovery has been made during the coronavirus pandemic.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index reached a five month high of 6199.2 points early in Tuesday’s session, then tapered off and finished up by 31.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 6161.4.

The All Ordinaries index closed higher by 31.7 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 6332.0.

There was a good lead from the US, where the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached record closing highs. That came after the US Food and Drug Administration said it had given emergency approval for plasma from recovered coronavirus patients to be used in treatment.

The World Health Organisation expressed skepticism due to “low quality” data.

The optimism helped the ASX, but ASR Wealth senior equities dealer Tom Armstrong was not getting carried away with the result.

“The US continues to go from strength to strength. There will always be an element of the US markets dragging us up,” he said.

He noted the main indices had not moved much higher on a long term view.

“For all the huffing and puffing, we’re still where we were on June 9,” he said of the points tally.

Market analysts have noted the ASX has struggled to rise above 6,200 points.

The pandemic continued to have ripple effects on the economy.

Qantas is planning to cut up to 2,500 more workers at airports across Australia, adding to the 6,000 employees already leaving the airline.

The airline wants to outsource ground handling crew in order to save $100 million per year.

Shares were higher by 2.95 per cent to $3.84.

National jobs data showed any recovery in employment over the past two months could have come to an abrupt halt.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures that showed payroll jobs dropped one per cent over the month to August 8.

In Victoria the downturn was larger. Payroll jobs fell 2.8 per cent as a result of stage four virus restrictions in Melbourne.

On the market, the information technology sector had a 3.59 per cent gain and financials enjoyed a 2.49 per cent lift.

The former was helped by a record high for Afterpay of $93.50. It closed up by 11.79 per cent to $92.48.

Among the big banks, ANZ finished up by 3.24 per cent to $18.80, the Commonwealth rose by 2.18 per cent to $70.45, NAB gained 4.22 per cent to $18.28 and Westpac lifted by 4.32 per cent to $17.85.

Reporting season continued and vitamins supplier Blackmores suffered a 66 per cent hit to full-year profit after its lucrative Chinese market shrunk due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Net profit after tax was $18.1 million, which Blackmores said was in line with earlier guidance.

Management decided not to pay a final dividend. The 2019 equivalent was 70 cents per share, fully franked.

Shares were lower by 5.64 per cent to $71.58.

Westfield shopping centres operator Scentre reported a massive bottom line half-year loss, after writing down the value of its 42 properties in the wake of the pandemic.

Scentre Group posted a net operating loss of $3.6 billion for the six months ending June 30.

However management was confident in the future.

Investors were too, and shares rose 4.46 per cent to $2.11.

Meanwhile, Mosaic Brands, the owner of retail chains including Katies, Millers and Noni B, said it will close up to 500 stores over the next two years.

Protective gloves and clothing maker Ansell hiked its full-year profit by 42.1 per cent after strengthening its position in protective equipment.

Net profit for the 2019/20 year was $US158.7 million ($A220.6 million), after a 7.7 per cent lift in revenue to $US1.6 billion ($A2.2 billion).

However shares fell 1.94 per cent to $39.52.

Elsewhere, there was little joy for the miners.

BHP dipped by 0.67 per cent to $38.31, Rio Tinto finished even at $100.90 and Fortescue dropped 0.32 per cent to $18.50 after a record profit on Monday.