The Australian sharemarket recorded its best single session in six months on Monday as bargain hunters piled in, snapping up banks and property stocks after a bout of heavy selling last week.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 jumped 134.6 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 8201.6 at the close, as all 11 sectors climbed. It was the bourse’s biggest one-day advance since July 31, when the gauge climbed 1.8 per cent.