ASX Today Live News & Analysis

Australia's share market has rallied to within one per cent of its best close in a session that almost reduced September's losses to a memory.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 soared 100.2 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 8,945.9 on Thursday as the broader All Ordinaries jumped 103.7 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 9,240.3.

The heavyweight materials and financial sectors invigorated the broader market with gains of 1.8 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively, in a broad-based rally that had the hallmarks of index buying.

"With all the majors in the limelight today it does seem like what we're seeing is index support - the buying of the whole market, which is generally performed by larger global players," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.

Eight of 11 local sectors closed higher, as energy stocks, real estate plays and health care also notched gains of more than one per cent each.

Gold continued to defy gravity, hitting an all-time peak of $US3,895 ($A8,906 an ounce) and helping local miners shine, sending Northern Star, Evolution and Ramelius Resources more than three per cent higher.

Large-cap miners also performed well, with BHP rebounding 1.1 per cent to $41.94 a share after concerns about the company's iron ore price negotiations weighed on the group on Wednesday.

The raw materials segment closed at its highest level in 16 months at a value of $573 billion, according to Iress data.

Australia's banking sector also drove the bourse higher, led by a two per cent rise in ANZ shares, while CBA jumped 1.7 per cent to $169.82 as it dealt with an online banking and ATM outage that impacted more than 7000 customers.

Energy stocks bounced from the sector's lowest close since June on Wednesday, as rallies in natural gas prices, coal miners and uranium plays helped lighten the load of lumbering oil prices.

Woodside and Santos each pushed more than 0.7 per cent higher as Whitehaven coal jumped three per cent and uranium producer Paladin surged 5.9 per cent to $8.65.

Defence technology stock Dronesheild finally ran into some resistance after beating the top-200 for four straight sessions, handing back 10 per cent after soaring more than 65 per cent this week.

Lithium miner Liontown Resources was Thursday's top-performer, up almost 10 per cent and more than clawing back Wednesday's sell-off, which was sparked by oversupply concerns.

News Corp tumbled more than five per cent after it announced an expansion via its majority-controlled REA Group (down 1.9 per cent) into a Canadian company offering 3D property tours.

The Australian dollar is buying 66.19 US cents, up from 66.11 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm, after the US government shutdown pressured the greenback and bets on an October Federal Reserve interest rate cut narrowed.

With no end in sight, the shutdown will also delay the release of key US economic data overnight and into the weekend.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 rallied 100.2 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 8,945.9

The broader All Ordinaries jumped 103.7 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 9,240.3

The NZX 50 added 17.77 points (0.13%) to 13,451.76 while the Nikkei gained 385.88 points (0.86%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 44,936.73

Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):

ARB Corporation Limited