There’s something impressive and just a little bemusing about the fact the ASX 200 could reset its record high in the same week that global markets were plunged into something that felt very much like panic.

In some ways, it makes complete sense. Australia largely dodged the fallout from the sudden arrival of Chinese start-up DeepSeek, thanks in no small part to the dominance of banks and mining stocks, which are arguably mild beneficiaries of a fall in artificial intelligence computing costs. And softer than expected inflation numbers on Wednesday have investors banking on a Reserve Bank of Australia rate cut on February 18.