Further signs that interest rate relief may be close at hand in the US sent the local bourse to a record high on Friday and helped Commonwealth Bank dethrone resources giant BHP as Australia’s most valuable public company.

Australia’s flagship S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.9 per cent, or 69.7 points, to a record 7959.3 points, to finish the week up 1.2 per cent.

In the final session of the week, the bourse was helped higher by Australia’s largest bank, which added 1.3 per cent to $131.66, extending a bull run that has sent shares up more than 30 per cent in 12 months.

CBA ended the day with a $220.3 billion market cap, surpassing BHP’s $220.1 billion capitalisation. The latter finished the day 0.4 per cent lower at $43.40 after informing the market late on Thursday that it would suspend nickel mining operations in Western Australia.

Friday marked the first time that CBA has overtaken BHP as Australia’s most valuable public company since November 2021.

The rally in ASX bank stocks came after the US consumer price indicator slipped 0.1 per cent from May to June. The evidence of deflation in the US-led traders to ramp up rate-cut bets. Money markets subsequently fully priced a rate cut from the US Federal Reserve by September.

Australia’s big four banks rose on Friday following the data. National Australia Bank gained 2.1 per cent to $36.95, Westpac 1 per cent to $27.90 and ANZ 0.9 per cent to $29.60.

Locally, every sharemarket sector finished higher except technology, which lost 1.2 per cent as WiseTech slipped 3.4 per cent to $95.29. The losses followed a similar rotation out of large-cap tech stocks in the US, which pushed the S&P 500 to end Thursday’s session down 0.9 per cent.

The rate-sensitive real estate sector was the best performing, adding 2 per cent, led by GPT Group which gained 5.3 per cent to $4.39.