The Australian sharemarket has opened up on Friday, buoyed by fresh record highs on Wall Street and a rally in technology fuelled by the Nvidia-Intel deal.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index jumped 0.8 per cent, or 71.9 points, to 8817.1 minutes after the open, with all 11 sectors in the green.
All three major US benchmarks overnight reset intraday record highs. Intel jumped more than 22 per cent after Nvidia said it would invest $US5 billion in the struggling chipmaker.
On the ASX, healthcare and tech led gains. Medical diagnostics giant Telix Pharmaceuticals leapt 7.3 per cent after Citi initiated coverage with a “buy” rating, saying its prostate cancer treatment has the potential to become a “blockbuster drug”.
Mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto fell as iron ore prices slipped. Santos rebounded 0.9 per cent after its failed takeover by a consortium led by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Woodside also rose 0.6 per cent.
Elsewhere, the big banks were mixed, with Commonwealth Bank up 1.5 per cent and National Australia Bank 0.3 per cent higher. But ANZ slipped 0.1 per cent and Westpac retreated 0.7 per cent.
Stocks on the move
In corporate news, gold mining company Regis Resources eased 0.1 per cent after UBS cut its rating to “sell” due to its recent share price climb.