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MELBOURNE - The sharemarket surged to fresh highs yesterday buoyed by a confident United States market and good commodity prices.
At the close, the S&P/ASX200 index rose 59.4 points to a new record of 6392.9, surpassing its previous best of 6369 posted on May 21.
Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the record was welcome but no surprise.
"When you're in record territory, every second or third day you're going to be bobbing in and out of it," he said.
"What's keeping our head above water is the American market and that's strong and also at record territory.
"As long as they keep going strongly that puts a floor under any movement downwards in our market. That gives me a lot of confidence for the future of our market going forward [for] months."
Mining giant BHP Billiton put on A68c to A$32.85.
The banks joined the party, with NAB adding A28c to A$41.85, the CBA rising A22c to A$55.32, the ANZ improving A31c to A$29.26 and Westpac lifting A13c to A$26.29.
Insurance Australia Group closed up A5c at A$6 despite abandoning its bid to buy a stake in Chinese insurance giant Pacific Insurance.
* Japan's Nikkei average eked out a 0.08 per cent gain to close at its highest in three months yesterday as the Komatsu jumped on strong capital spending data but worries about falls in Chinese stocks curbed gains.
Mitsui OSK Lines and other shipping firms sailed higher after Credit Suisse upgrades and Toyota rose after strong US sales data for May.
The Nikkei added 14.54 points to 17,973.42, the highest close since February 27.
- AAP, REUTERS