Last week Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings company sold a controlling stake in The Center for a record HK$40.2 billion for a single office building. A reason this was possible is that interest rates around the globe are at record lows. Some suggest that the era of cheap money might be over as first the United States Federal Reserve, now the Bank of England, raised their key rates. Bond traders see things differently, still favouring long-dated paper over shorter maturities – not what one would expect. Yield curves are at their flattest in years, and the British two-year gilt yield fell from 51 basis points to 39, below the new bank rate raised from 25 to 50 basis points. Interesting!

Nicole Elliott is a technical analyst