The Australian sharemarket cracked a record closing high, shrugging off a lacklustre session on Wall Street, after weak retail data bolstered expectations for a rate cut from the Reserve Bank next week.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rallied 56.6 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 8597.7 on Wednesday, which pipped the previous record closing high of 8592.1, set on June 11. Nine out of the 11 sectors were in the green, led by mining and real estate stocks.

Wall Street was mixed overnight as US President Donald Trump said he would not delay the July 9 deadline for imposing higher tariffs on trading partners, triggering caution across financial markets.

Even so, the ASX pushed higher after Australia retail sales data revealed a smaller-than-expected 0.2 per cent in May, which led ANZ to forecast that the Reserve Bank would cut the cash rate by 25 basis points at next week’s board meeting.

That boosted the real estate sector, with Goodman Group, Mirvac, Stockland, and Scentre Group all rallying more than 2 per cent, while Dexus jumped 3.1 per cent to $6.98.

“The retail sales data cemented the idea of a rate cut next week, which of course helps our interest rate-sensitive ASX 200, with the property sector doing pretty well today,” IG market anaylst Tony Sycamore told the Australian Financial Review.

“We were expecting a pretty quiet session, but the subdued retail data showed more stimulus is needed, and that’s given the ASX a nice kick higher.”

The big iron producers also advanced with a higher commodity price after a Caixin/S&P Global survey showed Chinese manufacturing PMI rose to 50.4 in June, from 48.3 in May, surpassing expectations in a Reuters poll. BHP climbed 1.7 per cent to $37.20, Fortescue 3.8 per cent to $15.97, and Rio Tinto 2.1 per cent to $108.30.