Australian shares hit a record high on Tuesday as expectations grew that the US Federal Reserve could deliver a massive rate cut this week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.3 percent at 8,148.8 by 0110 GMT, surpassing the previous record high of 8,148.7 hit on Aug. 1.
The Fed was expected to cut interest rates by at least 25 basis points at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, but some reports last week sparked speculation it could pursue a 50-basis-point cut.
Currently, 62 percent of market participants expect a 50 basis point rate cut, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
In Australia, traders were looking ahead to Friday’s August jobs report to see how the labor market has coped with high interest rates.
Australia’s central bank has kept interest rates steady at a 12-year high of 4.35 percent since November 2023.
In Sydney, rate-sensitive financial stocks rose 0.3 percent, with top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia up 0.4 percent.
Gold stocks rose for a sixth straight session as prospects for a big U.S. interest rate cut kept bullion prices near a record high.
Mining stocks rose 0.1 percent, with mining giant BHP Group up 0.3 percent and Rio Tinto gaining 0.7 percent.
Technology stocks rose as much as 1% to hit an all-time high. Industry leader Xero rose as much as 0.6% to hit its highest level since Jan. 4, 2022, after announcing a $70 million acquisition of Johannesburg-based cloud platform Syft Analytics.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.5 percent to 12,641.4 points.
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