ASX 200 rallies; Nickel Industries rallies as lithium stocks dumped

ASX rises to its highest level this month. Nickel Industries surges, Liontown leads lithium sell-off, Atlas slips on Chicago bid and more delays for AGL's Loy Yang A plant.

Investors will react to local economic inflation and jobs data this week as the Reserve Bank hints it will slow the pace of interest rate hikes. Picture: Gaye Gerard.

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Monday, September 12. The Australian sharemarket has extended its winning streak to close at its highest level this month amid bullish market sentiment on the hopes that rates may soon start to rise at a slower pace.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed up by 70.32 points, or 1 per cent to 6964.50.

Wall Street closed higher on Friday with the S&P 500 index up 1.5 per cent while the Nasdaq index jumped 2.1 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average index was 1.1 per cent higher.

US 10-year bond yields are up to 3.31 per cent, while two-year yields are higher at 3.56 per cent – a 14-year high.

Oil prices are higher with global benchmark Brent crude rising 4.1 per cent to $US92.84 per barrel and the US Nymex up 3.9 per cent to $US86.79 per barrel.

Iron ore futures rose 2.1 per cent to $US102.23 per tonne.

The Aussie dollar was near US68.45c at the local close.