The sharemarket powered to its second straight day of gains on Tuesday as investors waded back into riskier assets, with the major banks enjoying strong renewed support.

Banks and miners started the session on an upbeat note and moved higher through the trading day, driving the 33-point, or 0.6 per cent, gain in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index to 5746. That moved the measure comfortably back to the middle of its multi-month trading range of between 5700 and 5800 points.

Insurance giant QBE added 2.5 per cent over the session after it announced a top management reshuffle, with chief executive John Neal to be replaced by financial chief Pat Regan. 

After a shocking few weeks, the Big Four banks pushed sharply higher after their US peers helped drive Wall St to fresh record highs on Monday night. CBA shares jumped 2.2 per cent, ANZ climbed 1.4 per cent, Westpac added 1 per cent and NAB 0.8 per cent.

Macquarie climbed 2.3 per cent to build on a strong advance made on Monday when it told investors it was expecting first-half results to be better than the same period in 2017. 

Strong gains for US financials overnight set the scene for the gains in Australian banks, with IG's Chris Weston linking those US bank shares moves to the US Treasury market. 

"The US two-year versus 10-year fixed income curve has steepened a touch to 81 basis points. This, in turn, has lifted US financials," Mr Weston said. 

As the US dollar rallied hard yesterday, the Australian dollar fell back and it traded at US80.23¢ against the greenback on Tuesday, retreating further from a two-year high of more than US81¢ cents hit on Friday.  

Miners advanced strongly as well on Tuesday, with Rio Tinto up 1.9 per cent, BHP Billiton 1.2 per cent, and Fortescue 1.6 per cent. South32 lifted 3.9 per cent. 

Newcrest failed to fire, however, with the gold giant shedding 1.9 per cent over the session as it traded with the gold price. The precious metal is down 1.5 per cent this week, with the safe-haven play sold off as investors turn to the riskier end of the asset spectrum. 

Galaxy Resources shot up another 11.8 per cent, with gains since the start of trading on Monday at 16.2 per cent. The move for Galaxy, which started to import lithium to China this year, came as China committed to set a deadline to halt sales of fossil-fuel powered vehicles. 

Brisbane-based peer Orocobre, with an operation in Argentina, added 1.9 per cent, with gains for the firm since the start of September at more than 12 per cent.

STOCK WATCH

Macquarie Group

Shares in Macquarie Group continued to climb through Tuesday's trade, adding 2.3 per cent to $87.10, extending the stock's two-day gains to 5.5 per cent. Monday's upbeat trading update led to a string of positive analyst reports, with most pointing to management's expectation of higher fee income in this half. In light of the update, UBS analysts said Macquarie's share price weakness over recent weeks has presented a "buying opportunity" as the upgraded their recommendation to reflect this opinion. Ongoing cost initiatives at the investment bank/asset manager are "key to Macquarie's medium term outlook," the UBS analysts said. "We see substantial operating leverage from here and estimate that every 5 per cent reduction in the cost-to-income ratio providing 16 per cent upside to earnings per share."

MOVERS

Business survey

NAB's monthly survey revealed business conditions climbed to its highest since early 2008 in August, with a marked improvement in employment intentions burnishing the outlook for further jobs growth. But the survey also showed that confidence, while still broadly positive, took a big hit in August to hit 13-month lows. "It is probably too early to read much into the drop in confidence this month," NAB chief economist Alan Oster said. "For those indicating deterioration in confidence, the biggest concerns appear to be customer demand, government policy, as well as cost pressures – both energy and wages". 

Crude storms

Brent crude edged lower on Tuesday, slipping 0.2 per cent to $US53.74 a barrel as traders weighed up the dampening effect on demand of Hurricane Irma versus refinery restarts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey that should lead to more crude oil processing. US refineries have started to come back online after being shut for about two weeks as Hurricane Harvey ripped through the US Gulf coast. On Harvey's heels, Hurricane Irma slammed into Florida on Sunday, leaving more than 7.4 million homes and businesses without power, but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Japan

Japanese stocks jumped for the second straight day on Tuesday, with the Topix sharemarket index rising 0.9 per cent and adding to Monday's rally, the biggest in three months. "Japanese financial stocks joined the global financial rallies as there are many factors which benefit them today," said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, a strategist at Mizuho Securities told Reuters. Top exporters were strong as the US dollar rebounded strongly on Monday night. Analysts said that although geopolitical fears for the Korean Peninsula eased for the time being, the market continued to monitor developments carefully.

Iron ore futures

Steel and iron ore futures in China advanced on Tuesday, regaining some lost ground after a five-day retreat. The strength in iron ore prices largely reflects stronger profit margins among Chinese steel mills, CBA analyst Vivek Dhar said. "As long as steel margins remain elevated, the incentive for steel mills is to purchase iron ore to boost steel production in the short term," Dhar said in a note. "With steel capacity utilisation in China roughly at 70-75 per cent, there is still more than enough scope for China's steel production to rise."