End-of-day summary:
Hopes for a breakthrough in US-China trade talks helped power the Australian share market to a record close.
The ASX 200 rallied 66 points or 0.78% to 8587.2, eclipsing the old closing high of 8555.8 set on February 14. The Australian stock benchmark topped out today at 8592, still some 23 points shy of the intraday peak of 8615.2 set on February 14.
Consumer stocks, banks and tech companies set the pace. The big four banks put on between 0.96% and 1.53%. Gold miners and industrials sat out the rally.
The local market was playing catch-up with two days of gains on Wall Street during the Australian long weekend as trade negotiators met in London to attempt to revive stalled US-China trade talks. The S&P 500 rallied 1.03% on Friday night, and inched up another 0.09% overnight.
