The Australian sharemarket added almost $100 billion in value on Thursday after equities on Wall Street ripped overnight following US President Donald Trump’s decision to hit pause on reciprocal tariffs on more than 75 nations.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 4.5 per cent, or 334.6 points, closing at 7709.6 and notching its best one-day gain in five years. The All Ordinaries climbed 4.7 per cent and the Australian dollar rebounded, nearing US62¢, buoyed by the burst in risk-on sentiment,

Trump’s 90-day pause triggered a wild relief rally on Wall Street that sent the S&P 500 soaring 9.5 per cent – its biggest one-day session since 2008 – adding $US4.3 trillion ($7 trillion) in market value. US futures are, however, pointing lower.

Fear driven

The American president also increased the tariff rate on Chinese exports yet again to 125 per cent because of what he called in a social media post a “lack of respect”. That was after China retaliated by increasing its tariff rate on US exports to 84 per cent from 34 per cent. Stocks in China lifted, but trailed a stronger rally in Japan and South Korea.

Jessica Amir, a market strategist at investment platform MooMoo, said markets would remain volatile while uncertainty remains over where tariffs settle and their impact on businesses.

“Markets have been oversold, and that will encourage people in. But what we know from Trump is that markets are triggered by headlines,” she said. “Fear is as high as it was during [the] COVID [pandemic], these market moves are unsustainable, and we have been reminded that when markets gain, that gain can just as quickly be taken off the table.”

Thursday’s risk-on sentiment swept across commodities and cryptocurrencies with iron ore, gold and bitcoin all advancing. Gold rebounded 1.3 per cent to retake $US3100 an ounce. Oil, however, slipped 0.6 per cent.

Stocks in focus

Miners buoyed the ASX 200, with the mining-heavy materials sector closing up 6.3 per cent. BHP advanced 5.4 per cent to $36 and Mineral Resources soared 18.13 per cent to $17.01, posting the bourse’s biggest gain. Among the gold miners, South32 rallied 9.5 per cent to $2.76. Banks also notched sizeable gains with Commonwealth Bank up 3.4 per cent to $154.53.

Technology stocks tracked Wall Street’s lead after the technology-heavy Nasdaq soared more than 12 per cent. WiseTech surged 8 per cent to $85.21. Data centre stocks were also well bid with DigiCo rallying 15.5 per cent to $2.68 as Barrenjoey upgraded the stock to overweight. Goodman Group rose 6.6 per cent to $27.80.

Unloved uranium stocks were swept up in Thursday’s relief rally to record some of the biggest gains. Boss Energy jumped 17.5 per cent to $2.62 and Paladin 17.4 per cent to $4.72.

And Qube advanced 3.5 per cent to $3.82 after the ACCC approved its acquisition of a car import terminal in Melbourne – but subjected the $333 million takeover to certain conditions on competition concerns.