A “better than expected” result from a US tech juggernaut sparked a rebound on the Australian stock market after a six month low.
The benchmark ASX 200 soared 104.80 points or 1.24 per cent to 8,552.70 for its strongest day of trading in three and half months.
The broader All Ordinaries also finished strongly up 112.60 points or 1.29 per cent to 8,834.
Australia’s dollar slipped and was buying 64.83 US cents.
On an overall positive day, nine of the 11 sectors traded in the green.
Australia’s sharemarket followed a strong lead from Wall Street led by Nvidia’s third quarter results.
The AI leader said revenues came in at $US57.01bn ($87.86bn) while fourth quarter sales are expected to rise to $US65bn ($100.19bn).
Betashares investment strategist Hugh Lam said a strong result from Nvidia capped off a stellar reporting season out of the US.
“Nvidia’s better than expected results have so far allayed concerns around the AI bubble that’s taken hold of markets in recent weeks,” he said.
According to Mr Lam, the AI giant quashed concerns about the sustainability of the AI investment boom.
Material shares soared, led by a jump in the gold price and positive news for lithium stocks.
Evolution Mining soared 3.3 per cent to $11.40, Northern Star shined up 3.8 per cent to $26.56 and Newmont gained 1.2 per cent to $134.67.
Liontown resources soared 9.56 per cent to $1.60, Mineral Resources jumped 4.51 per cent to $50.78 and Pilbara Minerals leapt 5.28 per cent to $4.19.
Meanwhile Australian technology stocks followed a strong lead from the US.
Life360 jumped 4.20 per cent to $36.47, Xero up 1.56 per cent to $120.47 and WiseTech Global gained 2.12 per cent to $64.21.
The big four banks all traded higher.
Commonwealth Bank jumped 1.12 per cent to $153, Westpac added 1.10 per cent to $37.75, NAB outperformed as it finished 1.39 per cent higher to $40.88 and ANZ closed 0.91 per cent higher to $35.44.
In company news, A2 Milk gained 0.87 per cent to $9.30 after it told the market it had a stronger-than-expected start to the year and had lifted financial 2026 guidance.
Mexican food chain Guzman y Gomez announced chief executive Steve Marks bought just over $1m worth of shares this week. Shares were up 2.55 per cent to $22.55.
Magellan Financial shares slipped 0.65 per cent to $9.21 after the investment group announced its head of global equities, Arvid Streimann had resigned.
Engineering group Worley fell 3.15 per cent to $13.22 after shareholders voted against its remuneration report for the second year in a row, meaning shareholders can force a vote to make the board stand for re-election.
Afterpay’s parent company Block was the strongest performing share on the ASX with shares soaring 10.90 per cent $98.16 while DroneShield was one of the laggard down 4.06 per cent to $1.89.
