The Australian sharemarket climbed to its highest level since 26 March on Wednesday after softer-than-expected inflation data prompted investors to scale back expectations of an interest rate increase by the Reserve Bank of Australia next month.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 90.8 points, or 1.0%, to 9,038.6, with all 11 sectors finishing the session in positive territory.
Investor sentiment improved after annual headline inflation eased to 3.8% in June, below market expectations of 4.0%, while trimmed mean inflation, the RBA's preferred measure of underlying price pressures, remained steady at 3.6%.
Healthcare stocks led the advance, with Sonic Healthcare rising 3.2%, ResMed gaining 3.6%, and Cochlear adding 2.2%.
CSL surged 7.2% after announcing it will begin clinical trial work in mid-2027 to support regulatory approval of its next-generation Horizon 2 manufacturing process.
The Consumer Discretionary sector also outperformed, led by strong gains across major retailers and gaming stocks.
JB Hi-Fi climbed 4.7%, Domino's Pizza Enterprises rose 5.3%, Tabcorp gained 4.6%, and Wesfarmers advanced 1.6%.
Among individual companies, Rio Tinto rose 3.7% after reporting a 43% increase in underlying earnings to US$6.85 billion (A$9.82 billion) for the June half, exceeding analyst expectations of US$6.78 billion, supported by stronger copper production.
Woodside Energy added 1.4% after reporting a 35% increase in June quarter revenue to US$4.19 billion. The energy producer also narrowed its full-year production guidance to 174 million to 185 million barrels of oil equivalent, from a previous range of 172 million to 186 million barrels.
On the bond markets, the 10-year government bond yield fell 0.9% to 4.92%, while the 2-year yield declined 1.7% to 4.528%.
