The Australian share market has had its best day in five years after a backflip on tariffs by United States President Donald Trump helped return more than $119 billion to its top-500 stocks.
Overnight, Trump announced a temporary lowering of tariffs his administration had placed on dozens of countries around the world, sending equities surging.
The S&P/ASX200 jumped 334.6 points, or 4.54 per cent, to 7709.6 while the broader All Ordinaries surged 352.2 points, or 4.66 per cent, to 7913.9.
It was the benchmark index's best performance since March 2020, when the COVID-19 global pandemic declaration hammered markets but made room for occasional relief bounces.
All local sectors traded higher on Thursday, with IT stocks up 7.6 per cent as financials, energy and materials stocks bounced more than 4, 5 and 6 per cent respectively.
The Australian dollar has recovered to 61.94 US cents, up from 59.97 on Wednesday at 5pm, after grinding about the 60 US cent level for most of the week.
Global markets rally after Trump's about-face
The bounce came after a Wall Street rally in the US overnight, with the S&P500 surging 9.5 per cent higher, its best daily result since the global financial crisis in 2008, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 12.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei surged 8 per cent, and European futures shot up.
Overnight, Trump that were detailed during an last week.
However, a 10 per cent blanket duty on almost all US imports will remain in effect. Australia has not received a lowered tariff thanks to the temporary pause, as it was already set to have a 10 per cent tariff applied.
The U-turn is believed to be a response to dislocation in bond markets as yields surged and confidence in US treasuries began to falter.
The US excluded China from the break and instead increased tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 per cent, after China lifted its impost on US goods to 84 per cent from 34 per cent hours earlier.
What are analysts saying about the rebound?
Jessica Amir, market analyst for trading firm Moomoo, said: "Just like that, US President Donald Trump paused higher tariffs on most countries for 90 days and investors jumped back into stocks, gold and oil, selling out of bonds."
Tony Sycamore, analyst for trading platform IG Markets, said while Trump appeared willing to look through equity market losses, the overnight backflip showed "the bond market remains the ultimate master of markets and politicians alike by virtue of its role as the 'plumbing' of the financial system".
