A late rally in the mining sector pushed the Australian sharemarket higher on Thursday as China pledged more stimulus measures to help the country meet its growth target.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index jumped 1 per cent, or 77.3 points, to 8203.7 at the closing bell, with 10 out of the 11 sectors climbing. The gains are despite a lacklustre session on Wall Street. The All Ordinaries rose 1.1 per cent.

The major miners rallied strongly into the close, tracking a higher iron ore price in Singapore – above $US98 a tonne.

That’s after President Xi Jinping used the monthly gathering of China’s 24-person Politburo on Thursday to call for sufficient fiscal spending to support the stimulus package announced by China’s central bank earlier this week, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Authorities said the government needed to stabilise the property market – a huge consumer of iron ore – which included limiting the supply of new commercial housing construction.

Shares in Rio Tinto rallied 2 per cent to $123.22. BHP firmed 1.6 per cent to $43.36, extending the stock’s gains this week to 7.6 per cent and Fortescue Metals jumped 2.9 per cent to $19.40.

IG analyst Tony Sycamore said reports that the Chinese government was getting ready to unleash more stimulus had helped the sharemarket to snap its recent losing streak. It follows the central bank’s policy blitz on Tuesday that sent mining stocks and commodity prices on a tear.

Elsewhere on the ASX, the consumer discretionary sector was well bid, climbing 2 per cent. Sector heavyweight Wesfarmers rallied 1.5 per cent to $70.99, Aristocrat jumped 2.8 per cent to $58.09 and JB Hi-Fi rose 3 per cent to $80.98.

Stocks in focus

In companies news, casino operator Star Entertainment released its financial accounts almost a month after shares had been suspended from the ASX as it battled to find new funding. The gaming group posted a $1.7 billion loss in the full year. The shares are expected to resume trading later this week.

Washington H Soul Pattinson, the conglomerate that has holdings in New Hope and Brickworks, climbed 2.2 per cent, despite reporting a 27.8 per cent drop in net profit to $498.8 million in FY24. The company said the result reflected lower profit contributions from Brickworks and New Hope.

Platinum Asset Management has rejected rival Regal Funds Management’s bid to take over the money manager. The ASX-listed global equities manager said its board “unanimously concluded that the current terms of the Regal proposal undervalue Platinum”. The shares advanced 1.8 per cent to $1.145, while Regal Partners jumped 2.3 per cent to $3.60.

The ACCC said it would not oppose Stockland and Supalai’s proposed acquisition of 12 Lendlease residential master-planned community projects after accepting a court-enforceable undertaking. Stockland inched up 0.4 per cent to $5.31.

And building materials group Brickworks rallied 7.2 per cent to $28.52 after it beat expectations with its underlying profit figure. It posted a net loss of $119 million for FY24 after its earnings were hit by a non-cash property devaluation of $215 million and a $15 million loss on property sales.