Aussie shares higher amid hopes for third US rate cut

The Australian share market has finished slightly higher after the chairman of the US Federal Reserve talked up the health of the world's largest economy, while the king of cryptocurrencies has hit a milestone.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday finished up 12.3 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 8,474.9, while the broader All Ordinaries climbed 16 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 8,744.5.

The gains came after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell overnight told a business event the US economy was in "very good shape and there's no reason for that not to continue."

While the gist of Mr Powell's remarks suggested a slower pace of rate cuts, expectations of a rate cut at the Fed's December 17-18 meeting increased slightly following his comments.

Also on Thursday afternoon, bitcoin cracked the $US100,000 mark for the first time, rallying over 7.0 per cent in the past 24 hours to trade at $US102,600, or $A160,000 on Australian exchanges.

The move came after US president-elect Donald Trump announced overnight he would nominate crypto advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulatory body that had been unfriendly to crypto institutions under current leadership.

"The crypto summer is back and it's back with a bang," said Jason Titman, chief executive of Brisbane-based crypto brokerage Swyftx, one of many predicting bitcoin's bull market was just beginning.

Afterpay owner Block, which owns 8,211 bitcoin, rose 5.6 per cent to $152.53. DigitalX, which has 216 BTC, rose 9.1 per cent to 6 cents.

Overall six of the ASX's 11 sectors closed higher and five finished lower.

The interest rate-sensitive real estate sector was the biggest mover, dropping 1.3 per cent as Goodman Group fell 2.1 per cent.

The tech sector climbed 1.1 per cent, with Wisetech Global adding 1.9 per cent and Technology One advancing 2.8 per cent.

The big four banks were mixed, with CBA up 0.7 per cent to $157.99, Westpac adding 0.5 per cent to $33.24, ANZ basically flat at $31.18 and NAB down 0.3 per cent to $38.94.

In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP dropped 1.1 per cent to $40.59 while Rio Tinto advanced 0.6 per cent to $120.78 and South32 added 2.8 per cent to $3.70.

Goldminers were among the biggest gainers as the precious metal climbed to $US2,652 an ounce.

West Africa Resources rose 8.0 per cent, Westgold added 5.7 per cent and Northern Star advanced 2.4 per cent.

Silver Mines was the biggest gainer in the All Ordinaries, soaring 16.2 per cent to 11.5c after the NSW parliament amended environmental rules following a court ruling in August that threatened to derail the company's Bowdens silver project near Mudgee.

Silver Mines said it now had a clear pathway to work through to reinstate approval for the mine.

The Australian dollar remained around a six-month low against its US counterpart, buying 64.37 US cents, down from 64.38 US cents at Wednesday's ASX close.

ON THE ASX:

* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday gained 12.3 points, or 0.15 per cent, at 8,474.9

* The broader All Ordinaries rose 16 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 8,744.5

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 64.37 US cents, from 64.38 US cents at Wednesday's ASX close

* 96.47 Japanese yen, from 96.67 Japanese yen

* 61.15 euro cents, from 61.26 euro cents

* 50.62 British pence, from 50.77 pence

* 109.63 NZ cents, from 109.96 NZ cents