Australian investors appear to be betting that the nation's central bank will start easing off on aggressive interest rate hikes.
The ASX 200 was following Wall Street into positive territory on Thursday but it started to soar after the Reserve Bank's governor made a speech in Sydney.
After Philip Lowe's comments, it peaked and ended the day 1.8 per cent higher at 6,849 points. The All Ords gained 1.8 per cent.
Lowe's comments hinted that the pace of cash rate hikes in Australia might soon slow.
Just this week, the RBA raised the rate for the fifth month in a row to a seven-year high of 2.35 per cent.
Minerals including gold and lithium were doing nicely.
Lithium stocks gained after a report from JP Morgan that projected that this core ingredient in renewable energy batteries will continue to fetch good prices.
Pilbara Minerals had gained 7.3 per cent on this. This took it to a trading high of $4.24 a share.
Meanwhile, Tyro payments had soared by 28 per cent. That was off a low base, taking it to $1.26 a share.
The payment platform's stock was booming after it knocked back a takeover bid that it said undervalued the company.
Ten of the 11 sectors gained. The only one that did not was energy, as the oil price resettled back down from its Ukraine war spike.
Wall Street rebounds from losses
The Australian share market gains on Thursday morning were initially following Wall Street's overnight trade.
Overnight (local time), the Dow Jones added 1.4 per cent, S&P 500 gained 1.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq was up 2.1 per cent.
The Nasdaq was jumping after a seven-day slump.
Airline stocks on Wall Street gained after its major company, United Airlines, raised its sales forecast. Its stocks rose 5 per cent.
Brent oil was up 0.4 per cent, to more than $US88 a barrel. However, oil is still well below its highs earlier this year when it surged to more than $US100 a barrel after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
"The market certainly has the potential for a price upswing, given the oil price is now falling away," market analyst Clifford Bennett said.
"The problem with the still-concerning trade deficit, nonetheless, is that it incorporates high natural gas exports in support of Europe. This means sustained higher gas prices in the US domestically."
Meanwhile, the yield on US 10-year notes fell, as markets gambled on less-severe interest rate hikes.
City Index analyst Tony Sycamore said "the view remains that (Wall Street) had entered a choppy range".
"US equity markets rebounded as US yields reversed a good chunk of yesterday's painful rally following a collapse in oil prices, which eased fears around inflation and the prospect of continued aggressive central bank rate hikes," he said.
Central Banks starting to ease off on rate hikes?
Mr Sycamore noted that, overnight, Canada had raised rates by 75 basis points.
Canada now has its equivalent of the cash rate set at 3.25 per cent.
"[Canada] has become the first G10 Central Bank to slow the pace of rate hikes," he added.
The Australian dollar is up slightly, to above 68 US cents. That takes it off a seven-week low.
