ASX 200 falls for fifth trading day, tracking US futures; Link sinks; Yallourn, Mt Piper add to energy crisis

ASX closes lower for the fifth session, tracking US futures. Jobless rate holds steady. BHP to keep NSW Coal. Outages for Yallourn and Mt Piper coal plants. Link falls on buyout concerns.

Stocks are set to rally after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the most since 1994. Picture: Jeremy Piper / NCA NewsWire

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Thursday, June 16. The ASX gave up early gains to close in the red for a fifth day, tracking US futures. Jobless rate holds steady. BHP to keep NSW Coal. Outages for Yallourn and Mt Piper coal plants. Link falls on ACCC's buyout concerns. Jumbo US hike a sign of times.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.2 per cent lower at 6591.10, erasing earlier gains of as much as 1.1 per cent.

It is the fifth day of losses as investors fret about rising interest rates and inflation.

That's after Australia's unemployment rate held steady at 3.9 per cent last month as the economy added an extra 60,600 jobs.

Still, the sharemarket has pared earlier gains of more than 1 per cent amid lower commodity prices.

US stocks jumped overnight after the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by 75 basis points but also suggested that moves of that magnitude would be not be a regular occurrence.

The Dow Jones gained 1 per cent, the S&P 500 index rose 1.5 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 2.5 per cent.

Among commodities, global oil prices fell amid concern that the higher US interest rates could impact demand. Nymex crude oil tumbled 3 per cent to $US115.31 a barrel.

Iron ore was also lower, falling 2 per cent to $US135.47 a tonne overnight.

And the Australian dollar was trading around US70c at the US close.