The Australian sharemarket climbed for a third session, buoyed by strong gains on Wall Street and renewed hopes for a US-China trade deal.

The S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.4 per cent, or by 28.9 points, to 7997.1 points at the close, extending the prior week’s rally and its advance from an April 7 low to almost 10 per cent. The All Ordinaries also rose 0.4 per cent. Ten of 11 sectors finished in the green, led by energy.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index finished higher late last week after the White House said it had drawn up plans to negotiate with trade partners that have been scrambling to avoid punitive tariffs. President Donald Trump said he was engaging with Beijing, though that claim was later denied by China.

‘Bullish again’

The Nasdaq also rallied, buoyed by Tesla’s 9.8 per cent rally and Alphabet’s advance on positive earnings results. On the domestic front, investors shrugged off an address by Chinese officials when they did not introduce new stimulus measures for the economy as some had hoped.

Jessica Amir, a market strategist at trading platform MooMoo, said hopes for a US-China trade deal and encouraging US earnings had helped sentiment turn a corner.

“Markets are bullish again, and it’s probably just a matter of when, not if, the ASX 200 returns to that all-time high hit on February 14,” she said.

ASX-listed tech stocks tracked the Nasdaq higher, with NextDC advancing 2.5 per cent to $11.40 and TechnologyOne adding 3.1 per cent to $28.92. Banks also boosted the bourse, led by ANZ’s 1.6 per cent gain to $29.31 after Citi upgraded the stock.

National Australia Bank and Westpac also advanced while profit takers sent Commonwealth Bank shares down 1.1 per cent to $162.85 after hitting a record last week.

Miners were one outlier on the ASX among the sea of green with BHP off 1.1 per cent to $37.66. Gold stocks tracked a fall in the precious metal as investors recycled capital from safe-haven assets into equities. West African Resources retreated 3.7 per cent to $2.33, and Pantoro Gold fell 9.8 per cent after reporting lower-than-expected output in the three months to March.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, index bellwether Brambles weighed on the bourse, dropping 5 per cent to $19.83 after revising down its forecast for sales revenue growth, citing an uncertain outlook for consumer demand.

Telix Pharmaceuticals fell 6.6 per cent to $26.68 after a US regulator did not approve its new drug application for TLX101-CDx, an imaging agent for the management of a glioma, a brain cancer.

Ainsworth soared 31.1 per cent to 97¢ after majority shareholder Novomatic said it would acquire all outstanding shares in the poker machine maker in a deal that values it at $336.8 million.

And ALS rose 3.9 per cent to $16.36 after reassuring investors it did not expect any material impact on input costs owing to tariffs announced by the US or its trade partners.