Aust stocks surge higher at close
The Australian stock market surged more than 1.6% at the close, with materials leading gains on improved optimism on moves by China's central bank on the country's liquidity crisis and fresh data signalling growing strength in the US economy.
China's central bank on Tuesday night said it had injected liquidity into "some qualified financial institutions" and says it will continue to do so if needed.
IG market's Stan Shamu said analysts felt the People's Bank Of China's intervention would only be supportive in the short term because the bigger picture was about banks de-leveraging and creating a more sound banking system.
At the 1615 AEST official market close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index increased 1.63% to 4,731.7 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 1.6%, to 4,708.7 points.