Local shares grabbed the lead from Wall Street with both hands, started well and staged a stunning rise to close near the day's high. Shares were a sea of green upticks, with no red in sight.
Stand-outs today were the big banks, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Telstra.
Sentiment continues to get stronger as previous non-believers in the market recovery have had to commence buying, lest they miss out on the large rally underway in financial stocks and miners alike, pushing stocks higher.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed 2.8%, or 100.5 points, at 3680.2.
BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) added 97 cents, or 3%, to $33.07, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) was up $2.89. or 5.2%, at $58.29, Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) was up 3 cents, or 1.2%, at $2.61 and Mirabela Nickel was up 5.5 cents, at $1.70.
Gold miners, Lihir (ASX:LGL) was up 8 cents, or 2.4%, at $3.43 and Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) was up $1.06, or 3.3%, at $33.56.
In oil stocks, Santos (ASX:STO) was was steady at $17.29 and Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) was up 72 cents, or 1.9%, at $39.12.
Macarthur Coal (ASX:MCC) added 20 cents, or 5.6%, to $3.75, Centennial Coal (ASX:CEY) was up 11 cents, at $2.10, Arrow Energy (ASX:AOE) was up 7 cents, at $2.87 and Riversdale Mining (ASX:RIV) was up 13 cents, at $3.61.
Banks were up and away, ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) added 52 cents, or 3.3%, to $16.40, Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) rose 95 cents, or 2.7%, to $35.58, NAB (ASX:NAB) was up 95 cents, or 2.7%, to $35.58, Westpac (ASX:WBC) was up 47 cents, or 2.4%, at $19.89 and Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) was up $1.40, or 5.3%, at $27.80.
Retailer Harvey Norman (ASX:HVN) added 5 cents, or 2%, to $2.59 and Rupert Murdoch's media group, News Corp (ASx:NWS) gained 50 cents, or 4.5%, to $11.54. Telco, Telstra (ASX:TLS) added 7 cents, or 2.3%, to $3.16.