The Australian sharemarket extended its winning streak to seven sessions, with the S&P/ASX 200 index gaining 0.3% and reaching 7600.2 points at the close, nearing its previous record high from August 2021. However, it fell short of the intraday high of 7632.8 set during the same month.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a fall of 54 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a fall of 1.25 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 8.5 points.
The SPI futures are up 22 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Information Technology, up 1.91 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Industrials, down 0.34 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), closing 2.93 per cent higher at $13.33. It was followed by shares in EBOS Group (ASX:EBO) and Atlas Arteria (ASX:ALX).
The worst-performing large cap was Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY), closing 2.91 per cent lower at $6.01. It was followed by shares in QBE Insurance Group (ASX:QBE) and Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ).
Asian markets
Japan's Nikkei has gained 0.29 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 2.14 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 1.12 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2,030.30 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1 per cent higher at US$137.45 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.3 per cent fall.
Light crude is trading $0.27 higher at US$77.04 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 66.14 US cents.
