Investors may have no choice but to keep piling into Australia’s banking sector, which pushed Commonwealth Bank and Macquarie to fresh records on Tuesday, until commodity prices begin to recover.

UBS said while the investment case for the Australian sharemarket’s two biggest sectors looked “as tough as ever” – banks have soared 30 per cent so far this year versus a 20 per cent plunge for the big miners – China’s ongoing property crisis would continue to weigh on demand for raw materials.