The S&P/ASX200 jumped 55.6 points by midday on Thursday, up 0.65 per cent, to 8,635, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 56.2 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 8,924.4.
The move tracked a Wall Street rally after the US Federal Reserve cut its funding rate and flagged a bigger, and earlier-than-expected liquidity injection for early 2026.
The results of the less-hawkish-than-feared meeting were obvious to see, IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.
"US equity markets, gold, and silver have rallied strongly, while the volatility index and yields have tumbled, as has the US dollar — particularly against the Kiwi and the Aussie," he said.
"We expect these trends to broadly continue now into year-end, starting with today's session in Asia, where regional equity markets are expected to hit the turbo chargers."
The Federal Reserve is the world's largest central bank by total assets, which exceed $US7 trillion.
Eight of 11 local sectors were trading higher by midday, led by raw materials as gold surged to $US4,241 ($A6,355) an ounce, lifting VanEck's gold miners ETF 1.4 per cent.
Large cap miners were stronger, with Rio Tinto, Fortescue and BHP each lifting 1.8 per cent or more, as iron ore futures edged higher to after weak producer price data from China raised hopes Beijing might break out the chequebook.
The heavyweight financial sector could break a two-session losing streak, rising 0.7 per cent by lunchtime as Westpac led three of the big four banks higher as leadership fronted shareholders at its annual meeting.
Commonwealth Bank shares fell behind, slipping 0.3 per cent to $153.33, while investment giant Macquarie gained 1.4 per cent.
Energy stocks surged 0.7 per cent, tracking with an uptick in oil prices after the US military seized a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean.
Woodside and Santos edged less than 0.6 per cent higher while coal producers also carved out modest gains and uranium plays continued to ride their recent upward momentum.
IT stocks and health were behind by lunchtime, each sector shedding less than 0.8 per cent, while communications stocks lost 0.2 per cent.
Life360 tumbled 3.5 per cent in early trade and is clutching onto a key support just below $34.49, on par with its value in July and down roughly 38 per cent from October's record high. The family tracking app is still up more than 50 per cent in 2025.
The interest rate-sensitive real estate and utilities sectors jumped 1.2 per cent each, with particularly strong performances from Vicinity Centres and Goodman Group.
Shares in Scentre Group surged 2.6 per cent after it acknowledged reports that a major superannuation fund was considering taking an interest in its Westfield Sydney complex.
In utilities, Origin jumped 2.2 per cent to $11.74 as it announced plans to expand its big battery capacity at its Eraring coal power station in NSW.
Consumer-facing stocks made modest gains, with both discretionaries and staples up 0.3 per cent, although department store owner Myer gained about nine per cent to 44.7 cents after a positive sales report.
The Australian dollar rallied to six-month highs of 66.86 US cents in the wake of the US rates decision, but eased to 66.62 US cents by midday after a surprise dip in local November jobs numbers.
The Aussie was still higher than Wednesday at 5pm, when it bought 66.42 US cents.
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