The Australian sharemarket was on track for a 10th-consecutive daily rise today, as commodity price strength lifted the resources sector.
BHP Billiton rose 1 per cent after the price of London Metals Exchange copper rose 0.6 per cent and Nymex crude oil rose 1.2 per cent to a four-month high overnight.
The market faces some uncertainty this week, with the US Federal Reserve's January board meeting ending today, and US employment data due Friday.
At 11.44am AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3 per cent at 4903.8 following yesterday's 1.1 per cent rise, the biggest one-day gain in four weeks.
"People came back from holidays this week and said 'I am missing out in this rally,' so they bought all the strongly trending stocks," said Christopher Macdonald, RBS Morgans' investment adviser.
"The Fed meeting gives reason for a pause, because if we get any hawkish statements out of the Fed it could generate a potential pullback in risks assets."
Resources, materials, industrial, healthcare and financial stocks were contributing to today's strength in the Australian sharemarket.
Among stocks that weakened, Wesfarmers fell 1.6 per cent after its Coles supermarkets division recorded a 5 per cent rise in food and liquor sales for the second quarter, meeting expectations.
The conglomerate lowered its forecast for coking coal output to between 7.5 million and 8 million tonnes for the 2013 financial year, down from an earlier forecast of between 8 million and 8.5 million, due to flooding.
RBS Morgan's Mr Macdonald still expects the Australian sharemarket to hit 5000 next month on the back of a reasonable corporate earnings period in Australia and expectations of another interest rate cut in March.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is due to meet next Tuesday. However, the market isn't expecting a rate cut next month, with 13 of 18 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires tipping an unchanged policy stance in February.
