ASX Today Live News & Analysis

The Australian bourse has notched its biggest gain since August as technology rebounds and mining boons led the market higher.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 104.8 points on Thursday, up 1.24 per cent to 8,552.7, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 112.6 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 8,834.

Nine of 11 local sectors finished positively with the foundation of the rally lying in the materials and financials heavyweight sectors, which had their best session in weeks.

IT stocks shot up on the back of a five per cent revenue increase for US chipmaker Nvidia, which also settled nerves regarding a potential artificial intelligence bubble, at least for now.

An afternoon slowdown was just enough to keep tech from being the biggest winner of the day, gaining 2.4 per cent, but many investors are still breathing sighs of relief that worries of overinvestment in the sector have not come to fruition.

"There's no evidence yet of a cooling in demand for data centres and computer chips," BetaShares chief economist David Bassanese told AAP.

"It's not to say we won't eventually get bubble conditions in the AI sector but ... there's no evidence yet that investments won't be met by strong demand."

Tech heavies WiseTech and Xero both gained more than 1.5 per cent each, while TechnologyOne (+4.4 per cent) and Life360 (+4.2 per cent) rebounded convincingly from recent slumps.

Mr Bassanese warned optimism might not last for long, particularly in those sectors hoping for cheaper borrowing costs anytime soon.

"Good news with regard to a possible RBA rate cut is gone out the window so we've got nothing really to hang our Christmas rally on in Australia," he said.

"It really is dependent on the AI boom that's going on in the US continuing to lift all boats in the rising tide."

Financials sported its first positive daily close in nearly two weeks with all big four banks ticking up around one per cent and Macquarie starting to recuperate from a week of losses with a 2.4 per cent lift.

The exchange's biggest company, Commonwealth Bank, had its first gain for a week to close at $153 a share.

Miners had a bumper day, rocketing up 2.4 per cent after gold miners defied cooling spot prices of $US4,073 ($A6,279) an ounce to post massive wins including a 3.3 per cent gain for Evolution and 3.8 per cent for Northern Star.

Lithium interests had some of the day's biggest rises with Liontown soaring 9.6 per cent and Pilbara up 5.3 per cent, while iron ore giants BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue all rose more than two per cent.

Energy was one of the few losers on Thursday, down 0.4 per cent, with a late rally in oil prices not enough to stop giants Woodside (-0.6 per cent) and Santos (-0.8 per cent) dragging on the sector.

At the other end of the spectrum, real estate made big gains, ticking 1.4 per cent higher, with Charter Hall the big winner as earnings guidance upgrades sparked a 6.7 per cent boost.

Former market sweetheart DroneShield continued to make headlines, down more than 70 per cent since October and shedding 4.1 per cent on Thursday to $1.89, even as it told the ASX its three directors did not agree to simultaneously sell shares worth $70 million.

The Australian dollar was buying 64.79 US cents, down from 64.89 at 5pm on Wednesday.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 rose 104.8 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 8,552.7

The broader All Ordinaries fell 112.6 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 8,834

The NZX 50 added 112.50 points (0.84%) to 13,439.40 while the Nikkei gained 1286.24 points (2.58%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 49,823.94

Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):

Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Chalice Mining Limited

Deep Yellow Limited

Dexus Industria REIT

Emeco Holdings Limited

Evolution Mining Limited

Insignia Financial Ltd

IPH Limited

Liberty Financial Group

Mineral Resources Limited

Monash IVF Group Limited

Sonic Healthcare Limited

Worley Limited