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Australian shares smashed through the 7000 level just after opening following the signing of a long-awaited trade deal between the US and China.

The S & P/ASX200 was up 38.6 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 7033.4 at 1015 on Thursday after briefly hitting 7041.4.

The surge thumped Wednesday’s record on the Australian Stock Exchange of 6,996.8 points.

Australia’s broader All Ordinaries index was up 36.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 7150.3 at 1015 on Thursday.

The rise comes after the first phase of a trade agreement between the US-China was signed overnight in the US after two years of tense negotiations.

US stocks rose ahead of the signing and Australian shares have followed them into record territory.

The initial deal will roll back some tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of US goods and services, defusing an 18-month conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

Beijing and Washington portrayed their “Phase 1” agreement as a momentous step after months of start-stop talks punctuated by tit-for-tat tariffs that uprooted supply chains and stoked fears of a further slowdown in the global economy.

The gold price rose also after the trade deal was signed between the two biggest economies as details of the agreement failed to soothe investor concerns about trade differences.

Locally it will be a quiet day for economic news, so all eyes will be on company announcements.

The Australian dollar was buying 69.04 US cents, up from 68.96 US cents at Wednesday’s close.