SYDNEY — Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed to a fresh record high Thursday, trading at 9,255.2 points, up 27.4 points or 0.30%, as of 2:37 p.m. AEST, marking the index's second consecutive all-time high after a strong session Wednesday that surprised many market watchers who had grown accustomed to Australian shares lagging their global peers.

Thursday's gain built directly on Wednesday's session, when the ASX 200 added 0.9% to close at a lifetime peak of 9,227.80 points, extending the index's gains since the start of August to 2.8%. New Zealand's benchmark index also finished at a record Wednesday, climbing 0.7% to 13,997.18 points, as strength spread across both markets.

A Surprising Turnaround for a Perceived Laggard

The rally marks a notable shift in narrative for the Australian sharemarket, which had spent much of the past 12 months trailing international peers, largely attributed to its limited direct exposure to artificial intelligence-related technology stocks. That relative underweight to AI, long viewed as a drag on the index's performance during the sector's rapid ascent, has instead become an unlikely source of strength in recent sessions.

UBS strategist Richard Schellbach has pointed to Australia's limited pure AI technology exposure as a factor that has repeatedly benefited the ASX during periods of global AI sector disruption, drawing interest from Asian investors at moments when AI chip stocks elsewhere have struggled. As cracks appeared in parts of the global AI trade in recent weeks, institutional funds rotated capital........

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