By Adrian Black

Australia’s sharemarket has defied expectations of a flat start to the week to spike a new intraday peak, as hopes a potential interest rate cut.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 19.5 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 8836.6, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 28.1 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 9107.3.

The top-200 briefly hit 8852.3, topping last week’s intraday record of 8848.8, amid high expectations of a Reserve Bank rate cut on Tuesday, Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy said.

“What many analysts seem to overlook is that just because the RBA can cut, doesn’t mean it will cut,” he said.

“While core inflation at 2.7 per cent gives the RBA room to move, an unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent means it’s is not under any pressure to do so.

A refusal to cut on Tuesday could have a significantly impact the share market, Mr McCarthy said..

Seven of 11 local sectors were trading higher by lunchtime, with materials showing continued strength, up 1.5 per cent, as iron ore prices to four-month highs lifting large cap miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue each more than one per cent higher.

Gold miners took a breather as the precious metal eased around 1.5 per cent to $US3437.1 ($A5269) an ounce.

Critical minerals miners staged a rebound after bleeding lower last week, lithium miners Liontown and Pilbara Minerals surging more than 10 per cent each.

All big for banks were in the green for the first time since last Wednesday, led by Westpac with a 1.4 per cent lift to $34.12.

Commonwealth Bank was up 0.9 per cent to $178.19 per share, ahead of its earnings call in two days time.

Australia’s tech sector was underperforming the market, down 0.8 per cent as TechnologyOne sank almost three per cent to $39.15 and Xero lost one per cent.

Consumer discretionary stocks were the worst performing segment, down 1.5 per cent after a strong performance last week, as JB Hi-Fi slumped nine per cent to $107.10, despite boosting sales and profits as long-serving CEO Terry Smart announced his departure.

Energy stocks edged 0.3 per cent higher, tracking with similar gains in Woodside and Santos.

The Australian dollar is buying 65.20 US cents, trading roughly flat against the greenback, from 65.20 US cents on Friday at 5pm.

Looking ahead, all eyes will be on the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision on Tuesday, with the board kicking off their meeting on Monday.

Also, earnings season is hitting hits stride, with CBA, Seven West, AGL, IAG, Suncorp, Telstra, Cocholer and Origin among companies reporting this week.