Aussie shares hit all-time high for fourth straight day

The local share market has hit a record high for a fourth straight session, and is on track for its seventh straight day of gains.

At noon AEST on Friday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 36.4 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 8,228.3, and had been as high as 8,246.2.

For the week it was on track for a 1.5 per cent gain, its best week in five weeks.

The broader All Ordinaries was up 41 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 8,458.0.

The gains came after an even better overnight rally on Wall Street, where the S&P500 rose 1.7 per cent and the Dow Jones climbed 1.3 per cent to both hit their highest levels, and the Nasdaq rose 2.5 per cent in its fourth-best session.

Moomoo market strategist Jessica Amir said investors were on a buying frenzy thanks to the Federal Reserve’s jumbo-sized rate cut, and the heavier-than-normal trading volume suggested there was power behind the move.

Every sector of the ASX was higher at midday, with tech the biggest gainer, up 1.2 per cent as Technology One grew 2.2 per cent to an all-time high of $24.02 and Life360 rose 5.4 per cent to a 10-day high of $18.13.

In the heavyweight mining sector, goldminers were gaining as the precious metal changed hands just below its all-time high of $2,600 set Wednesday.

Northern Star was up 1.0 per cent, Evolution had added 0.9 per cent and West African Resources had grown 2.7 per cent.

Elsewhere in the sector, BHP and Fortescue were both up 0.6 per cent, while Rio Tinto had edged 0.1 per cent higher.

The big four banks were mixed, with ANZ up 0.7 per cent and Westpac adding 0.2 per cent, while CBA and NAB were both down 0.1 per cent.

Insurance companies IAG and Suncorp had dropped 0.6 and 1.4 per cent, respectively, while Computershare had dropped 2.8 per cent. Lower interest rates tend to hurt the bottom lines of all three companies, which need to have billions stashed in short-term investments.

Myer was down 5.1 per cent to a nine-day low of 83c after the department store chain reported a 26 per cent drop in full-year profit.

The Australian dollar was buying 68.19 US cents, unchanged from Thursday’s ASX close.