Australian stocks today: ASX200 rockets on hopes of 11th-hour Iran ceasefire deal

Australian investors have followed a positive lead from Wall Street overnight, pinned on hopes of an 11th-hour peace deal between the US and Iran.

The steep gains came even as Donald Trump ramps up his progressively aggressive threats to rain “hell” on the country if it fails to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for 20 per cent of global oil movements.

The S&P-ASX200 started post-Easter trading on Tuesday up 1.6 per cent to a near four-week high of 8718.1.

After the first 30 minutes, the rally had pushed stocks almost 2.1 per cent higher to 8758.5 — still well off the index’s all-time high of 9200.9 reached on March 2.

That still leaves the index down more than 5 per cent since the US and Israel began military operations against Iran six weeks ago.

All 11 sectors were in the green, led by IT stocks that stormed almost 3 per cent higher. Miners, the banks, consumer discretionary and industrial stocks also added healthy gains.

The sharp rise came despite Iran rejecting Mr Trump’s increasingly bellicose ultimatums for Iran to release its stranglehold on the strait, which has cut off oil supplies to global markets and forced up prices at the pump around the world.

But investors drew some reassurance from a report that indicated the US, Iran and a group of regional mediators continued to discuss terms of a potential ceasefire.

US oil held near its highest close since June 2022 as Mr Trump escalated threats to obliterate key Iranian infrastructure if his terms aren’t met before a Tuesday deadline.

West Texas Intermediate traded near $US113 a barrel, after adding 0.8 per cent on Monday, while Brent settled just below $US110. Mr Trump said Monday that talks with Iran are “going well,” even though he listed reopening the Strait of Hormuz as “a very big priority”.

The US president laid bare the consequences Iran would face if it doesn’t reach a deal by his Tuesday 8pm US eastern time cut-off, saying the US military could destroy “every bridge in Iran by 12 o’clock tomorrow night.”

Power plants would be rendered “burning, exploding and never to be used again,” he said, which would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.

Iran has warned that it would respond to the kind of strikes Mr Trump is threatening against civilian targets by ramping up its own attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf — a move that could heighten the global fuel squeeze and amplify damage to the world economy.