The Australian share market breached its record closing high, set before the global financial crisis (GFC) smashed stock values.

However, the ASX 200 was unable to sustain its new record for very long.

The benchmark index closed 0.5 per cent higher at 6,825.8 — just three points below its closing record of 6,828.7 points, set on November 1, 2007.

At its peak, on Monday afternoon, the ASX 200 climbed as high as 6,834 points.

It has taken 2,974 days for the benchmark ASX 200 index to get climb back to its pre-GFC levels.

In comparison, it took Wall Street's S&P 500 less than half that time (1,386 days) to return to its October 2007 peak.

Furthermore, the S&P index — at 3,026 points — has nearly doubled its pre-GFC highs.

High dividend payouts, higher interest rates, and an obsession for houses are some of the reasons why it has taken the ASX so long to rebound to its pre-GFC levels.

Outperforming the region

The local share market outperformed its peers in the Asia-Pacific, particularly the Shanghai Composite (-0.1pc), Japan's Nikkei (-0.2pc) and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (-1.4pc).

Asian investors are trading cautiously ahead of US-China trade talks this week in Shanghai, and further protests in Hong Kong, which have stretched into their eighth week.

The US Federal Reserve is also widely expected to cut America's interest rates by 25 basis points by 4:00am (AEST) on Thursday.

Locally, every ASX sector is trading higher, led by technology (+1.8pc), telecommunications (+1.2pc) and industrials (+0.8pc).

But the benchmark index, which tracks Australia's 200 largest publicly-listed companies, has not yet regained its intra-day record of 6,851.5 points — the highest level it touched (briefly) that same day.

Among the best performing stocks are Afterpay Touch (+4pc), telco Vocus Group (+3.8pc) and A2 Milk (+3.3pc).

On the flipside, the worst performers include debt collection company Credit Corp (-6.2pc), casino giant Crown Resorts (-3.2pc) and rare earths miner Lynas Corporation (-2.3pc).

Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries index ended its day at a fresh record, lifting 0.5 per cent to 6,911 points.

Last week, the All Ords also beat its previous record high from almost 12 years ago.

The Australian dollar was slightly weaker at 69.06 US cents.