25.02.202605:57:42UTC+00Australian Shares Hit All-Time High

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2% to close at a record high of 9,128 on Wednesday, driven by strong gains in mining stocks. Fortescue Metals jumped 4.5% after posting first-half revenue of $8.439 billion, up 10.5% from $7.638 billion a year earlier. The upbeat results buoyed the broader resources sector, with BHP Group advancing 2.8% and Rio Tinto adding 2.4%. Other notable gainers included National Australia Bank and Woodside Energy Group, both up 1.2%, and Block, which gained 1.9%.

At the same time, investors weighed hotter-than-expected inflation data that strengthened expectations of further interest rate hikes this year. Australia’s annual inflation rate came in at 3.8%, just above the 3.7% consensus forecast, while the RBA’s trimmed mean CPI rose to 3.4% year-on-year, compared with both market expectations and December’s 3.3% reading. Futures markets now imply another rate increase in May, which would lift the cash rate to 4.1%, and assign roughly a 60% probability to an additional hike in November.