The sharemarket climbed to an 11-week high on Tuesday, tracking a relief rally on Wall Street that was spurred by China and America pulling back from a months-long trade war.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4 per cent, or by 35.5 points, to 8269 points, its highest level since late February. Seven of the 11 sectors rose, with technology boosted by a stunning rally in the US sector. The All Ordinaries climbed 0.5 per cent.

Wall Street celebrated the news that America and China agreed to dramatically lower tariffs on each other for 90 days and committed to “continued communication”. The Nasdaq soared 4.4 per cent led by strong gains in the magnificent seven technology giants. Amazon leapt 8.1 per cent and Meta 7.9 per cent.

The celebratory mood also flowed through to commodities, driving iron ore back near the $US100 a tonne mark and Brent oil above $US64 a barrel, while gold slumped as investors dumped haven assets in favour of risk.

‘Lottery ticket’

SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the dramatic drop in tariff rates had surprised and elated markets. “[This was] a de-escalation that, frankly, wasn’t even in the top 10 most optimistic scenarios – it was the equivalent of a lottery ticket that cashed,” he said. “Risk assets just got a green light to price in less chaos.”

Australian technology stocks mirrored the risk-on rally on Wall Street. Index heavyweight WiseTech jumped 4.9 per cent to $102.48 and Life360 14 per cent to $27.18 after reporting a boom in new monthly users that boosted revenue.

Energy stocks and iron ore miners also pushed higher, tracking higher prices. Woodside jumped 3.7 per cent to $21.57, while iron ore giant BHP rose 2.1 per cent to $39.21.

Gold stocks, meanwhile, tracked a fall in prices, with Genesis Minerals leading the losses, down 10.7 per cent to $3.67. Capricorn Metals was hot on its heels. Citi’s decision to downgrade its near-term gold price forecast to $US3150 also hurt sentiment.

Consumer staples, real estate and communications – stocks typically seen as defensive in times of market stress – posted heavy losses as a risk-on mood prevailed. Woolworths and Coles lost more than 3 per cent, closing at $31.56 and $3.37 respectively.

Stocks in focus

Stocks with US exposure rallied during the session as investors bet the 90-day tariff pause would boost US activity. Corporate Travel Management jumped 9.9 per cent to $13.27, while payments provider Zip Co and Breville both advanced nearly 10 per cent.

Pharmaceutical stocks rebounded from Monday’s steep sell-off, driven by US President Donald Trump signing an executive order to cut US prescription prices. Clarity Pharmaceuticals leapt 15.32 per cent to $2.56.

Abacus Storage King rose 1.7 per cent to $1.53 after rejecting a bid from Public Storage and Ki Corporation to acquire its outstanding shares. That was after an independent committee deemed the $1.47 a share offer undervalued the self-storage company.

And PolyNovo rallied 14.4 per cent to $1.67 after its in-human study of its wound-healing product NovoSorb, to treat and manage type 1 diabetes, yielded a positive result.