Renewed hopes for an effective coronavirus treatment, resilient US corporate earnings, month-end window dressing and speculation over additional central bank support combined to push Australian shares to their highest close since March 13 on Thursday.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 surged 129.0 points, or 2.4 per cent, to finish at 5522.4.
Having dropped by the most on record in March, at 8.8 per cent, the benchmark’s gain in April was the largest on record, trimming its decline from the all-time highs hit in February to 23.3 per cent.
From the lows hit on March 23, the index has now gained an impressive 25.4 per cent.
“The smell of FOMO [fear of missing out] is real,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
Despite the threat posed to the global economy and corporate earnings from disruptions caused by the coronavirus, Mr Weston said investors are choosing instead to focus on the prospect of further central bank support.
“Liquidity is all conquering,” he said.
Helped by a string of robust US corporate results before the start of trade, local shares opened higher and just kept on going, adding to gains as the session progressed.
The energy sector once again led the charge, supported by another mind-boggling rally in crude oil futures in Asia which helped to erase all the losses seen earlier in the week.
Oil Search, Santos, Origin Energy and Caltex Australia all climbed more than 8 per cent, helping the energy sector finish up by the same amount.
REITs and information technology also outperformed the benchmark, adding 4.3 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.
For the former, GPT Group, Vicinity Centres and Mirvac all jumped more than 6.7 per cent. Nearmap and Afterpay were the top tech performers, lifting 18.2 per cent and 10.8 per cent respectively.
Among the other big names, James Hardie surged 9.9 per cent to $22.42 while Sydney Airport rose 7.7 per cent to $6.30.
ANZ Bank, having fallen in early trade following the release of its half yearly results, managed to crawl back ground to close up 1.4 per cent at $16.90.
While losers were few and far between during the session, CSL succumbed to further profit taking, ending 2 per cent lower at $309.44. Woolworths also skidded 0.8 per cent to $35.75 following a trading update.