SYDNEY — Australian shares surged Tuesday morning, with the S&P/ASX 200 climbing 92.6 points, or 1.03%, to 9,111.9 by 11:39 a.m. AEST, putting the benchmark index within striking distance of the all-time high it set earlier this year.

The rally extended gains from Monday's session, when the index rose 0.5% to close at 9,019.30 points, and builds on what was already the market's strongest monthly performance in five months during July. Tuesday's advance was broad-based, tracking a powerful overnight session on Wall Street and a retreat in oil prices that lifted sentiment across nearly every corner of the local market.

Wall Street sets the tone

The move higher followed a strong close in the United States, where the S&P 500 gained 1.48% to finish within 0.1% of its record high, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.13% on broad strength across megacap technology and semiconductor stocks, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.32% to close at a record level.

Amazon shares climbed more than 4.5%, pushing the company's market capitalization above $3 trillion for the first time, as investors responded to strong cloud growth. SpaceX also rallied ahead of its first quarterly results since listing, while Apple slipped as some investors continued trimming exposure to the tech giant.

Communication services was the strongest performer among the S&P 500's 11 major sectors overnight, climbing 4.3% on the back of gains in Meta Platforms and Alphabet. Energy was the lone laggard, falling 1.2% as crude prices tumbled.

Oil slide and Iran diplomacy in focus

Much of the........

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