The Australian sharemarket climbed to a record high on Monday after Wall Street’s main indexes rose to near-record highs over the weekend, fuelled by bets of interest rate cuts.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 67.4 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 8026.7 about midday AEST, pulling back slightly from earlier trading. All sectors except real estate investment trusts (REITs) were trading firmly in the green. The Australian dollar was fetching US67.7¢.

Rate-sensitive sectors were among the best performers on Monday with consumer discretionary companies (up 1.3 per cent), healthcare (up 1.2 per cent) and information technology (up 1.1 per cent) leading the index higher. Communication services firms (up 1.3 per cent) were also stronger with Seek (up 2.9 per cent) the biggest large-cap advancer. Telix Pharmaceuticals (up 2.6 per cent), WiseTech (up 2 per cent) and Wesfarmers (up 1.9 per cent) were also among the best performers.

CBA (up 0.8 per cent) continued to rally after it eclipsed BHP on Friday to become the biggest company on the local bourse. All four big banks were trading in positive territory along with iron ore giants BHP (up 1 per cent), Fortescue (up 1.9 per cent), and Rio Tinto (up 0.8 per cent).

Utilities (up 0.7 per cent) and real estate investment trusts (REITs, down 0.04 per cent) were the weakest sectors with Mercury NZ (down 2.6 per cent) the biggest large-cap decliner followed by Meridian Energy (down 2.2 per cent). Goodman Group (down 1.2 per cent) led the REITs sector lower, while infrastructure investment firm Infratil (down 1.8 per cent) also declined.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 247 points, or 0.6 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.6 per cent. All three indexes had been on track to set all-time highs in afternoon trading but finished shy of them.

In early trading following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on Sunday, there were also predictions that so-called “Trump trades” would gain momentum, as bitcoin prices rose and the US dollar gained against some currencies. The Australian dollar was fetching 67.74 US cents shortly after 7am.

The US dollar – which would gain if loose fiscal policy kept bond yields elevated – started to move higher against most peers early in Asia trading. Bitcoin rose above $US60,000, potentially reflecting Trump’s crypto-friendly stance.

“For us, the news does reinforce that Trump’s the frontrunner,” said Mark McCormick, global head of foreign exchange and emerging-market strategy at Toronto Dominion Bank. “We remain US dollar bulls for the second half and early 2025.”