The Australian sharemarket came within 15 points of a fresh record on Wednesday, bolstered by a favourable US jobs report overnight and as Commonwealth Bank climbed above $300 billion in market value for the first time.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rallied 0.9 per cent, or by 75.1 points, to 8541.8 at the close, with nine of 11 sectors in the green. That puts the bourse about 14 points from its record closing high of 8555.81 on February 14. The All Ordinaries was up 0.9 per cent.

Investors tracked a late rally on Wall Street that pushed the S&P 500 Index within 2.8 per cent of its peak after data showed US job openings rose unexpectedly in April to 7.4 million from 7.2 million. Economists had expected job openings to fall month-on-month.

The sharemarket was also buoyed by CBA’s 0.9 per cent advance that sent Australia’s largest bank above $181 a share for the first time to close at $181.10. The other big banks followed suit, with Westpac rallying 1.5 per cent to $33.10, despite an ASIC decision to sue its subsidiary RAMS for alleged systemic misconduct.

More rate cuts in sight

Wednesday’s rally marked the strongest day in a month for Australia’s sharemarket.

[The ASX] has kept chugging upwards,” said Ophir Asset Management head of research Luke McMillan.

“It was a pretty solid risk-on session for US equities overnight. The labour market data suggests employment is hanging in there.”

Mining stocks rallied along with metal prices, shrugging off a contraction in Chinese manufacturing activity. Singapore’s benchmark iron ore futures contract neared $US95 a tonne. That helped lift BHP by 1 per cent to $37.95 and Fortescue by 1.6 per cent to $15.26.

Aluminium stocks Alcoa and South32 climbed 5.6 per cent to $43.32 and 2.4 per cent to $3.02, respectively after US President Donald Trump pressed ahead with an executive order to raise tariffs on aluminium and steel imports to 50 per cent. Both companies have mining operations in the US.

Energy shares, however, posted the strongest gains on the ASX, helped by Woodside Energy, which finished up 2.9 per cent at $22.80. Brent crude held above $US65 after its more than 1 per cent gain overnight.

Zip Co was the bourse’s best-performing stock, advancing 13.6 per cent to $2.21. The stock has rebounded more than 34 per cent over the past month after being pummelled from the global sell-off sparked by the US trade war.

Stocks in focus

Uranium stocks surged after Meta became the latest major US technology company to double down on nuclear energy to power artificial intelligence. Paladin jumped 9.8 per cent to $6.49 and Deep Yellow by 5.9 per cent to $1.35.

Mayne Pharma dropped 5.3 per cent to $4.48 after US pharmaceutical giant Cosette moved to terminate its $672 million takeover bid for the Adelaide-based drug company.

IDP Education slipped 2.6 per cent to $3.78, extending the prior session’s almost 50 per cent drop. The international student services provider warned on Tuesday that global immigration uncertainty had hurt its enrolment pipeline.

And Japanese entertainment giant Mixi lobbed a higher bid to buy PointsBet and stave off a takeover by Australian bookmaker Betr, prompting a 10.6 per cent leap in PointsBet shares to $1.20. Betr slipped 1.4 per cent to 35¢.