The Reserve Bank of Australia raised the official cash rate to the highest level in 12 years, just as retailers were hopeful about increased spending ahead of the festive season, impacting their sales during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions.

Australian stocks are building on their early gains as Thursday's trading session unfolds, displaying resilience in the face of a turbulent Wall Street session marred by worries about the worldwide economic outlook and interest rate fluctuations.

On Wednesday, the Australian stock market experienced a slight upward movement, driven by robust advancements in the technology sector, which counterbalanced a downturn in the mining industry heavyweights.

The Australian sharemarket is higher at noon, influenced by mixed factors including flat performance on Wall Street and weaker-than-expected Chinese data impacting commodity prices.

Local investors are closely watching the Reserve Bank's policy statement scheduled for 2.30 pm (AEDT). It is anticipated that policymakers will decide on a 0.25 percentage point hike in the cash rate target, bringing it to 4.35 percent. You can find a preview by clicking here.

The ASX experienced a subdued Monday session, with its benchmark index nearing 7000 points for the first time in over two weeks, anticipating the Reserve Bank's impending cash rate decision.

The Australian sharemarket began the week with a slight upward movement, as investors remained watchful for the Reserve Bank's cash rate decision scheduled for Tuesday, with both bond and equity traders exercising caution in their approach.

The Australian stock market has surged around midday, buoyed by the positive performance on Wall Street, amid growing optimism that the Federal Reserve might have concluded its series of interest rate hikes.

The ASX's rate-sensitive sectors saw gains on Thursday as the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, leading traders to speculate that US rates had reached their peak.

The Australian dollar rose to a three-week high of US64.10c after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's statements were seen as suggesting that interest rates had reached their peak, boosting risk asset demand.

On Wednesday, the stock market experienced a second consecutive day of gains as investors eagerly anticipated the Federal Reserve's policy statement, hoping to gain insights into the central bank's future interest rate decisions.

Australian building approvals in September fell by 4.6%, surprising analysts who had anticipated a 1.3% increase.

On Tuesday, the Australian sharemarket experienced a modest increase, driven by a rally in consumer staples and real estate stocks.

Oil prices fell as US crude stockpiles increased significantly by 10.2 million barrels, the largest rise since February, and demand for gasoline remained low, pushing gasoline futures to their lowest level since December 2022.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission plans to reject authorisation for electricity industry participants to coordinate repair, maintenance, and upgrades due to concerns that it wouldn't substantially enhance the Australian Energy Market Operator's outage management capabilities and might harm competition.

Oil prices remained stable, hovering around $83 per barrel, after an initial surge linked to Hamas' attacks on Israel over the weekend. This surge was reversed following a report suggesting Iran's surprise at these attacks, potentially reducing the chances of additional sanctions on Iranian oil and limiting Iran's involvement in the conflict in the Middle East.

Australian bond yields have decreased, following the trend of their US counterparts, in response to signals from Federal Reserve officials that the central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates further.