The Australian sharemarket climbed to a record closing high on Wednesday, with strength in mining, gold and technology stocks outweighing weakness in the banking and energy sectors as investors welcomed hopes of an imminent agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 82.0 points, or 0.9%, to 9,227.8, with six of the 11 sectors finishing higher.
The materials sector led the advance. BHP gained 3.3% after Monadelphous Group announced it had secured a major construction contract with the miner worth around A$200 million.
Rio Tinto rose 2.3%, Fortescue added 0.6%, while South32 jumped 4.3%.
Gold miners also rallied as spot gold prices strengthened. Northern Star Resources climbed 5.8%, Evolution Mining gained 6.3%, Newmont added 4.4%, and St Barbara surged 10.3%.
Information technology stocks also finished higher, with Xero rising 1.8%, WiseTech Global advancing 5.4%, TechnologyOne adding 1.3% and Life360 gaining 3.8%.
Energy stocks remained under pressure as oil prices extended their decline on expectations of a diplomatic breakthrough between the United States and Iran.
Woodside Energy led the losses, falling 3.6%, while Santos dropped 2.2%, Beach Energy lost 2.7% and Viva Energy eased 2.2%.
Among individual stocks, Light & Wonder rose 4% after the gaming company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
Neuren Pharmaceuticals popped 16.3% after the company said second-quarter net sales of its flagship Rett syndrome treatment, Daybue, increased 30% from a year earlier to US$125 million (A$177 million).
On the bond markets, the Australian 10-year and two-year government bond yields fell 0.4% and 0.6% to 4.910% and 4.503%, respectively.
