The Australian sharemarket opened above 8600 points on Wednesday after encouraging news from London where US and Chinese officials are seeking a trade truce.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 45.7 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 8632.9 by 10.10am AEST as eight out of 11 sectors climbed.

Wall Street climbed overnight, pushing the S&P 500 up 0.6 per cent, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said negotiations with China went well on their second day, and they could extend into a third day.

And after the close of US trade, China said it had agreed in principle with the US to a so-called framework for implementing the consensus that the two countries reached in Geneva. China’s trade representative Li Chenggang said he hoped that the progress in talks would be conducive to “building trust”.