Meanwhile, real estate investment trusts led declines after bond yields jumped overnight as investors assessed the chances of Trump’s policies boosting inflation and dampening the global rate-cut outlook. Warehouse owner Goodman Group fell 2.2 per cent, Westfield shopping centre parent Scentre dropped 2 per cent, GPT plunged 3.6 per cent and developer Mirvac lost 1.9 per cent.

National Australia Bank fell 2 per cent after the lender said profits in the past financial year fell 8.1 per cent to $7.1 billion as intense competition in the mortgage market squeezed its profits.

Media group Nine Entertainment, the owner of this masthead, dropped 2.1 per cent after a bombshell announcement that its star talkback radio host Ray Hadley, a titan of Sydney’s talkback radio for more than 40 years, has announced his resignation from the company’s network 2GB.

Trump’s shock sweep to the White House set off fireworks on the US sharemarket overnight as Wall Street is anticipating lower taxes, deregulation and a US president who is quick to sound off on everything from the stock market to the US dollar, even though tariff hikes could bring challenges in the form of higher deficit and inflation.

The S&P 500 rose 2.5 per cent, the Dow Jones surged 3.6 per while the Nasdaq jumped by 3 per cent.

The Republican’s win powered a rally in Trump trades, as US Treasury yields surged and the US dollar gained. The Australian dollar lost 1 per cent overnight but pared some of its losses this morning. It was fetching 65.91 US cents at 1.10pm AEDT.

Trump has pledged to make the country “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. The price of bitcoin hit an all-time high and was fetching $US75,243 at 11.29am AEDT. Companies in the crypto industry also jumped, including trading platform Coinbase’s 31.1 per cent leap.

The Republican’s win powered a rally in Trump trades, as US Treasury yields surged, bitcoin hit a record high and the dollar gained.

“The market response suggests that (a Trump victory) wasn’t fully priced in, what we’re seeing is an extension of the Trump trade that basically assumes a red sweep scenario where both the House and the Senate are controlled by the Republicans,” said Candice Bangsund, portfolio manager, Private Markets Solutions at Fiera Capital.

The VIX, a measure of market volatility, dropped nearly 5 points to its lowest since September.

Most of the S&P 500’s sectors were trading higher. Financials led the gains with a 5.5 per cent surge to hit a record high, while the KBW bank index was set for its best day in four years.

The energy, industrials and consumer discretionary sectors were up around 3 per cent each. However, rate sensitive real estate and utilities slipped as investors assessed the chances of Trump’s policies boosting inflation and dampening the rate-cut outlook, which has been a key driver of Wall Street’s recent rally.

The central bank is widely expected to ease benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Thursday [Friday morning AEDT]. But, traders have begun to trim bets on the cuts expected next year.

“That sharp (move) up in Treasury yields has the potential to weigh on stock market valuations,” Bangsund said.

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Stocks that are expected to perform well under a second Trump term posted strong gains, with Trump Media & Technology Group up 5.9 per cent. Tesla leaped 14.8 per cent as CEO Elon Musk has supported Trump in his electoral campaign.

Strong gains were also seen in shares of cryptocurrency companies, energy firms and prison operators, while renewable energy shares fell.

Market focus turned to whether the Republican Party could maintain a majority in the House of Representatives after gaining control of the US Senate.

Reuters, AP