The ASX200 has climbed 0.8 per cent as the local currency neared 68 US cents after Fed chairman Jerome Powell declared "the time had come" for US rate cuts.
After being down as much as 0.5 per cent in morning trading, the ASX200 gained steadily in the afternoon to finish slightly in the green and above 8,000.
Brittany Higgins felt toxic and told the journalist who broke the story about her alleged rape in Parliament House that Senator Linda Reynolds hated her.
Former federal minister Marise Payne has told a court about her concerns for Linda Reynolds and Brittany Higgins after the latter's alleged rape in parliament.
Financial markets are betting on a rate cut before the end of the year, but Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has told parliament that would be too soon.
A senior staffer of Linda Reynolds has told a defamation trial the senator and her then chief of staff disagreed on how to handle claims by Brittany Higgins.
Senator Linda Reynolds' chief of staff when Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped in parliament may not be able to give evidence to the politician's high-profile defamation trial with her former staffer.