Offshore gains send Aust stocks soaring almost 1%

The Australian stock market extended gains to almost 1% at noon as the major miners surged ahead after investors took heart from strong gains on United States and European bourses despite the IMF downgrading its global economies' growth forecast.

At 1205 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 0.96% to 4,928.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 0.93% to 4,911.8 points.

IG analyst Evan Lucas said volumes were likely to be light again during the session.

"The fact that the market is rallying in the face of gloomy domestic data and China concerns suggests the market is doing what it does best – forward thinking," he said.

"All of the past seven trading sessions have seen the market move through 1.3%, plus or minus."

"Of the last 12, ten have moved through this range, with volumes still light the possibility of this happening again today is high."

The International Monetary Fund trimmed its world economic growth expectations for 2013 to 3.1% from the April forecast of 3.3%.

In economic news on Wednesday, Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor (financial markets) Guy Debelle is scheduled to attend the launch of the Funding Australia's Future Project hosted by the Australian Centre for Financial Studies.

In equities news, Transurban Group Ltd announced a 4.7% increase in statutory toll revenue to $801.2 million on the back of strong traffic growth across its portfolio.

Nufarm chairman Donald McGauchie is scheduled to speak at an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia lunch in Melbourne while Energy Resources of Australia is slated to release its second quarter operations review.

In Australia, the market closed the previous session higher, sparking hopes investors are over their jitters caused by the US flagging a cut to its stimulus program.

The market rose about 1.5%, and recovered all of the heavy losses incurred in the three days after the US Federal Reserve indicated it may soon begin withdrawing stimulus measures.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 72.2 points, or 1.5%, at 4,881.7 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 68.9 points, or 1.44%, to 4,866.5 points.