There seems to be a divergence between the sharemarket’s recent performance relative to the strength of corporate Australia. Our market continues to trend higher – reaching an 11½-year high and less than 4 per cent from the all-time peak of November 2007.

With the S&P/ASX200 on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 17 times compared with a historical average of 15 times, it is fair to suggest that the market is not cheap.