The Australian sharemarket has cracked a fresh intraday record on the back of large gains in financials and real estate stocks as traders digested the jobless rate unexpectedly rising to a four-year high of 4.5 per cent, opening the door for more interest rate cuts.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index had jumped 85.8 points, or 1 per cent, to a record of 9076.7 as of midday on Thursday AEDT, with 10 out of the 11 sectors flashing green.

The fresh high was hit within 30 minutes of ABS data revealing that the jobs market shed 33,900 workers in September, delivering a much weaker result than the 4.3 per cent unemployment rate economists were expecting.

“Even allowing for monthly volatility, it’s clear that the pace of employment demand has slowed in recent months,” said Betashares chief economist David Bassanese. “Today’s soft labour market report should lower the bar for an interest rate cut in November – though it’s still not yet a done deal.”

This followed a topsy-turvy session in New York as traders weighed up simmering trade tensions between the US and China.

The S&P 500 opened higher, plunged and then rebounded to end the day with a 0.4 per cent advance as trade headlines shifted sentiment from positive to negative to neutral.

Federal Reserve governor Stephen Miran said there were “now more downside risks than there was a week ago”, pointing to the back and forth trade moves by China and the US.

US President Donald Trump said he saw the US as locked in a trade war with China, even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed a longer pause on high tariffs on Chinese goods to resolve a conflict over critical minerals. “Well, you’re in one now,” Trump said on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) when asked by a reporter if the world’s two largest economies are in for a sustained trade war if they cannot reach a trade deal.

In commodities, oil rose from a five-month low after Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to halt purchases of Russian barrels, a move that could squeeze global supply.

On the ASX, the big four banks led the bourse higher. Index heavyweight Commonwealth Bank rose 1.7 per cent, while National Australia Bank rose 1 per cent, Westpac 1.5 per cent, and ANZ 1.9 per cent. Macquarie Group jumped 5.1 per cent, while insurers Suncorp and IAG both gained more than 1 per cent.

Real estate stocks also advanced amid rising expectations of another interest rate cut, with Goodman Group up 3.4 per cent, Mirvac 3.5 per cent, and Stockland 4.5 per cent.

Gold miners continued to surge as the price of bullion topped $US4200 an ounce for the first time amid continued safe haven demand. Genesis jumped 6.9 per cent, while Northern Star gained 2.6 per cent, Evolution 3.4 per cent, Newmont 3.2 per cent, and Capricorn 1.4 per cent, and Perseus 2.1 per cent.

Investors took profits from rare earth stocks after they rocketed earlier in the week following China’s announcement it would dramatically expand its export controls on the materials. Australian Strategic Metals tanked 12.7 per cent and Australian Rare Earths 15.6 per cent, while Iluka fell 7.4 per cent, and Lynas 3.7 per cent.

The IT sector also fell, weighed down by Wisetech, which came off 1.8 per cent. Xero lost 1.3 per cent, while Life360 dropped 2.8 per cent.

Stocks in focus

Mayne Pharma jumped 11.3 per cent after the Supreme Court of NSW on Wednesday ruled that American pharmaceutical giant Cosette could not terminate its $672 million takeover of the ASX-listed company, with the final decision on the deal now in the hands of the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Entertainment Rewards rocketed 900 per cent after announcing that its majority shareholder, Suzerain, had made a cash takeover offer.

Treasury Wine Estates rose 2 per cent despite chairman John Mullen saying preliminary data showed that sales in China in 2025-26 would fall “well below” previous expectations, with some high-end wine to be re-allocated to other countries.

AMP jumped 10.6 per cent after it reported that total assets under management increased by 3.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $159.5 billion.

DroneShield dropped 3.8 as investors continued to take profits, with the tech stock now down nearly 25 per cent from its intraday record of $6.70 set last week.

And Santos rose 1 per cent despite revealing that a technical problem had slowed the start-up of its $6.1 billion Barossa gas project in the Timor Sea, forcing a cut to production guidance for the full year.