Australia’s blue-chip companies did the heavy lifting on Thursday as the S&P/ASX 200 extended its post-pandemic high with the best session in five weeks and briefly reached 7000 points.

Gains for miners BHP and Rio Tinto, the Big Four banks, biotech CSL, Fortescue Metals and Telstra helped the benchmark index add another 1 per cent to close at a new 13-month high of 6998.8.

It was the market’s fifth rise on the trot, and still the longest winning run since early December.

Thursday’s barnstorming session also saw the local benchmark nudged an intraday peak of 7012.4 and move within 3 per cent of the all-time high set on February 20 last year.

It was the first time the market had risen above 7000 since the early stages of the coronavirus-driven market plunge.

The ASX again shrugged off an indifferent Wall Street performance to start higher.

OANDA’s Asia Pacific analyst Jeffrey Halley said the lack of any hawkish surprises in the US Fed’s latest minutes had helped sentiment, though investors were sure to be closely watching Jerome Powell’s speech overnight for signs of a change in Fed guidance.

“With the US economic risks weighted to the upside as their recovery gathers momentum, a slip of the tongue, deliberate or not, will likely see bonds and equities punished and the US Dollar rally,” Mr Halley said.

GSFM investment consultant Stephen Miller said central banks the world over had their “pedal to the metal” and made it clear they would not be shifting their extraordinarily accommodative policy settings until inflation targets were met.

“Central banks are banging the drum, they are saying to markets with a loudhailer ‘we are not for turning’,” he said.

“Sometimes markets get a bit jittery when there is a bit of inflation and there are fears they will have to taper earlier.

“But every time a central banker opens their mouth - be it Philip Lowe or Jerome Powell - they are saying they are not going to withdraw any bit of these historically accommodating levels of stimulus, and they’re not doing it soon.”

Rising iron ore prices continued to power Australia’s mining triumvirate of BHP, Rio Tinto Fortescue Metals, with each firm gaining strongly on Thursday.

The mining team at RBC Capital Markets said climbing steel prices and strong Chinese demand had translated into strong margins, increasing the ability to pay higher prices for iron ore.

The bulk metal climbed 1.6 per cent to hit $US173.63 a tonne, with BHP adding 2.6 per cent to close at $47.06, Rio rising 2.2 per cent to $115.88, and Fortescue Metals up by 2.5 per cent to finish at $21.

Westpac was the best of the Big Four banks, up 1.3 per cent to $25.16, followed by NAB and ANZ, which each added 1.1 per cent, and Commonwealth Bank, which lagged the wider ASX 200 with a 0.7 per cent rise.

Macquarie Group climbed by 1,3 per cent to $153.61 and CSL finished 1.1 per cent higher at $265.94.

Telstra rose by 1.2 per cent to $3.43 and Woolworths added 1 per cent to close at $41.76.