The Australian sharemarket tracked an advance in US futures on Tuesday, inching closer to its record high, after a reprieve in trade tensions between Washington and the European Union.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index lifted 0.6 per cent, or by 46.6 points, to 8407.6 at the close, just 1.7 per cent shy of its all-time high recorded on February 14. Six of 11 sectors were in the green, led by technology. The All Ordinaries edged up 0.5 per cent.

With both the US and the UK closed on Monday for a public holiday, strong gains in Europe helped lift investor sentiment, sending the benchmark STOXX 600 Index up 1 per cent.

US futures are pointing to similar gains on Wall Street. That’s after the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen secured a one-month reprieve from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, who on Friday threatened the EU with a 50 per cent levy.

‘Squeeze up’

For local investors, the focus is back on Australia’s interest rate outlook ahead of Wednesday’s April consumer price index release, which is tipped to show a decline in annual inflation to 2.3 per cent from 2.4 per cent – firmly within the Reserve Bank’s target band.

IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the ASX 200 was well-placed to “retest all-time highs” in the coming days as optimism among traders builds.

“Given we are now further away from those EU reciprocal tariffs, given tomorrow’s CPI should reinforce dovish RBA expectations and given we are moving into a new month, there is room for the ASX 200 to squeeze up a little bit further,” he said.

Banks and healthcare stocks climbed on Tuesday. Westpac was up 1.7 per cent to $31.78 while Commonwealth Bank rose 0.8 per cent to $175.34, nearing its record. Among healthcare names, Fisher & Paykel was up 2.4 per cent to $34.12 and Pro Medicus gained 1.5 per cent to $278.59.

Technology shares took cues from a 1 per cent advance in Nasdaq futures, with WiseTech rallying 2.2 per cent to $107.07 and Megaport up 1.4 per cent to $13.09.

Iron ore miners overturned earlier losses despite iron ore futures in Singapore slumping to a three-week low. Fortescue Metals was up 0.3 per cent to $15.58 and BHP 0.2 per cent to $38.64.

In currencies, concerns about the US outlook continued to fuel a sell-off in the greenback and pushed the Australian dollar up 1.7 per cent to US64.86¢.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, REA Group retreated 3.5 per cent to $242.18 after news emerged the ACCC is looking at whether the News Corp-controlled real estate listings giant has been misusing its market dominance to hike prices unreasonably.

Copper stocks are among the performers following reports that Harmony Gold was closing in on Mac Copper, marking the third such bid for an ASX-listed copper stock in the past month. The deal was confirmed after the close of trade with Mac’s share in a trading halt on Tuesday.

Capstone Copper rose 6.8 per cent to $8.43 and Sandfire climbed 3.1 per cent to $11.36. Higher prices also boosted sentiment, with copper futures in London rising 1.2 per cent to $US9610 a tonne on Monday.

Nufarm dropped a further 5.6 per cent to $2.36 and reset an all-time low. The farm chemical supplier plunged more than 30 per cent in one session last week after downgrading earnings guidance, citing weaker prices for fish oils.

And gold stock Newmont slid 1.6 per cent to $81.38 as shares traded ex-dividend.