The Australian share market has moved higher ahead of another US inflation readout, with traders appearing to approve of Rio Tinto's blockbuster $10 billion acquisition of a lithium player.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 ended Thursday up 35.6 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 8,223.0 - its highest finish since September 30 and just half a per cent away from its all-time closing high.
The broader All Ordinaries rose 41.9 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 8,498.7.
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said sentiment had improved thanks to gains on Wall Street - where the S&P500 and Dow Jones overnight both surged to record highs - and two critical announcements out of Beijing in the past 24 hours.
China's Finance Ministry said late Wednesday it would hold a press briefing on Saturday on fiscal policy, which traders hoped would be to announce new stimulus measures, Mr Sycamore said.
News reports a fortnight ago indicated China was about to announce long-awaited "bazooka" stimulus measures to revitalise its economy, but they have yet to materialise.
Beijing also said on Thursday it would create a 500 billion yuan ($A105 billion) swap scheme to give non-bank financial institutions easier access to funding to buy stocks, fuelling optimism in China's share market.
Six of the ASX's 11 sectors finished lower on Thursday and five ended higher.
Mining was the biggest mover, rising 1.6 per cent on the back of the China announcements and the $10 billion Rio deal - the ASX's biggest takeover of the year.
Arcadium Lithium finished up 38.8 per cent to $8.20 in its first day of trading following the takeover announcement on Wednesday evening.
Rio has agreed to pay $US5.85 ($A8.68) per Arcadium share, a 90 per cent premium to their closing price from Friday before the deal leaked at the weekend.
E&P analyst Adam Martin said the transaction highlighted the medium-term fundamentals of the lithium market, which was small with relatively few players, meaning the likelihood of additional M&A could increase.
One possible target, Liontown Resources, rose 5.7 per cent on Thursday, while Pilbara added 2.5 per cent and Ioneer jumped 7.1 per cent.
Elsewhere in the sector, BHP added 1.4 per cent to $43.90, Fortescue advanced 4.0 per cent to $19.73 and South32 climbed 2.3 per cent to $3.61.
Regis Resources rose 4.0 per cent to $2.07 after the goldminer reported better-than-expected gold production in the September quarter, with its Tropicana joint venture in Western Australia bouncing back after its operations were hampered by heavy rainfall back in March.
In the heavyweight financial sector, the big four banks finished mixed, with CBA growing 0.4 per cent to $136.19 and ANZ adding 0.3 per cent to $30.32, while NAB dropped 0.5 per cent to $37.29 and Westpac subtracted 0.4 per cent to $30.90.
Netwealth rose 3.8 per cent to an all-time high of $27.16 after the wealth manager said last quarter was a record for growth of its funds under administration, which rose by $7.4 billion to $95.4 billion.
Zip continued on its recent tear, its shares climbing 3.8 per cent to a 31-month high of $3.
The Australian dollar was buying 67.30 US cents, from 67.39 US cents at Wednesday's ASX close.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Thursday up 35.6 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 8,223.
* The All Ordinaries gained 41.9 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 8,498.7.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 67.30 US cents, from 67.39 US cents at Thursday's ASX close
* 100.37 Japanese yen, from 100.09 yen
* 61.53 euro cents, from 61.44 euro cents
* 51.49 British pence, unchanged
* 110.58 NZ cents, from 110.53 NZ cents
