The Australian sharemarket smashed through 6000 points, closing above the benchmark for the first time in three months as broad-based buying gathered pace on hopes massive fiscal and monetary stimulus will fuel a rebound in economic growth and corporate earnings.

The surge in the US Nasdaq Composite Index to a record is a flag bearer of the renewed risk appetite among investors. The prospect of a second-half recovery has driven rotation out of low-returning defensive assets such as cash, bonds and the US dollar into stocks – particularly the miners and banks – the Australian dollar and commodities that are leveraged to an economic rebound.