The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 67.9 points, or 0.8 per cent, in the first 20 minutes of trading on Friday, climbing to five points from its record intraday peak of 8,148.7 set six weeks ago.
Those gains had faded somewhat at noon, but the ASX200 was still up 22.2 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 8,097.9, on track for a 1.1 per cent gain for the week.
The broader All Ordinaries had gained 28.5 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 8,321.6.
Moomoo analyst Jessica Amir said Europe's central bank had bought good weekend vibes to markets, with the European Central Bank cutting interest rates overnight for the second time in 2024.Â
The move was expected, but still prompted a rebound in the euro, which rose against the US dollar.
Gold rose to an all-time high of $US2,567 as ECB president Christine Lagarde spoke to reporters following the rate cut decision, but Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston attributed gold's surge more to positioning and flow over news on the day.
At midday, seven of the ASX's 11 sectors were lower, industrials was flat and just three were higher - but the gains for the energy, materials and property sectors were enough to keep the bourse in the green.
The materials sector was the biggest gainer, up 2.3 per cent, with both goldminers and iron ore majors having a good day.
Northern Star was up 4.7 per cent, Newmont had added 3.7 per cent, West Africa Resources had climbed 8.8 per cent and Evolution was 8.2 per cent higher.
BHP had grown 1.8 per cent, Rio Tinto had climbed 2.1 per cent and Fortescue had risen 5.8 per cent.
In the real estate sector, Goodman Group was up 2.4 per cent and Scentre Group had climbed 1.4 per cent.
All of the big four banks were down, with CBA, NAB and Westpac all dropping 0.8 per cent and ANZ dipping 0.7 per cent.
The Australian dollar was buying 67.22 US cents, from 66.88 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.
7°C