Meanwhile, the big guns were tapping the main Australian dollar bond market in size.

ASX-listed shopping centre operator Vicinity, which has an A credit rating, raised $500 million of 10-year debt, paying a margin of 1.7 percentage points over the bank rate, or 6.19 per cent.

Earlier in the week, privately owned Sydney Airport, which has a BBB+ rating, attracted more than $2 billion of orders for its $850 million 10-year bond issue, which priced at 1.47 percentage points over the bank rate, or 5.9 per cent.

All four major banks were on the airport deal, and all four, with the exception of National Australia Bank, got a role on the Vicinity raising.