The local share market has rebounded from Thursday's sell-off and rocketed to a fresh all-time high after a trio of the world's leading tech firms soundly beat earnings expectations, uplifting investors' risk appetite.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed near the highs of the day Friday, up 111.2 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 7,699.4, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 112.8 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 7,931.6.
It was the ASX200's best day since a 1.65 per cent gain on December 14.
For the week, the index climbed 1.9 per cent, its second straight week of gains.
"Obviously, the market's had a strong week this week and closed at a record high on Friday - so that was very exciting," Bell Direct market analyst Grady Wulff told AAP.
Ms Wulff attributed Friday's rally to Amazon, Meta, and Apple all exceeding fourth-quarter earnings expectations, with Meta shares surging in after-hours trading after Facebook's parent company said it would pay its first-ever dividend.
The ASX's tech sector in turn was the exchange's second-best performing sector on Friday, rising 3.1 per cent as Wisetech Global added 3.5 per cent and Altium gained 4.5 per cent.
The interest-rate-sensitive property sector was the best performer, climbing 3.4 per cent as Goodman Group surged 6.2 per cent to a 16-year high of $26.98 and Westfield owner Scentre Group climbed 2.7 per cent to $3.10.
In the energy sector, uranium developers were setting all-time highs as the after the world's biggest uranium miner, Kazakhstan's Kazatomprom, warned that limited supplies of sulphuric acid would cause it to downgrade production targets.
Deep Yellow surged 12.8 per cent to $1.68, Boss Energy rose 8.0 per cent to $6.11, Paladin Energy advanced 6.6 per cent to $1.375 and Bannerman Energy finished up 5.1 per cent to $3.68.
In the heavyweight mining sector, goldminers were also doing well as the yellow metal traded near a two-week high of $US2,054 an ounce. Northern Star added 4.1 per cent and Newmont rose 2.7 per cent.
Elsewhere in the sector, BHP added 1.1 per cent to $47.61 and Fortescue rose 0.8 per cent to $29.73, while Rio Tinto dipped 0.2 per cent to $132.
All of the Big Four banks finished higher, with CBA up 1.5 per cent to $115.81, ANZ adding 1.3 per cent to $27.26, Westpac rising 1.2 per cent to $24.05 and NAB climbing 1.1 per cent to $32.25.
Gaming companies had a decent session, a day after New Zealand's SkyCity said it had agreed with the financial crimes watchdog on a penalty to settle allegations of money-laundering violations at its Adelaide casino.
Skycity added 7.2 per cent to a five-month high of $2.01, The Star rose 5.5 per cent to a a three-month high of 57.5c and The Lottery Corp advanced 1.8 per cent to $5.11, also a five-month high, amid excitement over this week's record $200 million Powerball draw.
The Australian dollar was buying 65.96 US cents, up from 65.38 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.
Looking forward, overnight the US Labor Department will release closely watched monthly jobs data known as the non-farm payrolls report.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank will meet to issue its latest decision on interest rates.
Financial markets on Friday were giving 95 per cent odds they'd leave rates unchanged, with a five per cent chance the RBA would issue a surprise rate cut, according to the ASX's RBA Rate Indicator.
A handful of Australian companies will begin reporting first-half earnings results, including AGL, Transurban and Boral.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Friday up 111.2 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 7,699.4.
* The broader All Ordinaries 112.8 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 7,931.6.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 65.96 US cents, from 65.37 US cents at Thursday's ASX close
* 96.62 Japanese yen, from 96.02 yen
* 60.65 Euro cents, from 60.52 Euro cents
* 51.75 British pence, from 51.61 pence
* 107.29 NZ cents, from 107.03 NZ cents.
