Australian shares are making strides towards a record high in the initial trading session of 2024. The S&P/ASX 200 index saw a 0.5% increase, adding 34.5 points to reach 7625.3 at midday on Tuesday, positioning itself within a mere 10 points of the August 2021 record.

Leading the charge was the energy sector, buoyed by an uptick in crude oil prices. Ampol saw a 0.9% rally, Woodside Energy gained 0.9%, and Santos rose by 0.7%. The surge in commodity prices followed Iran’s dispatch of a warship to the Red Sea in response to the US Navy’s destruction of three Houthi boats over the weekend.

In other developments, Singapore iron ore futures experienced a 1.8% upswing, reaching $141.20 a tonne in late afternoon trading. Mining giants mirrored the positive trend in the steel-making commodity, with BHP posting a 0.2% increase to $50.51 per share. Fortescue Metals achieved a new intraday record at $29.48 per share, while Rio Tinto saw a 0.6% rise to $136.525.

The benchmark index closed out 2023 with a notable 7.8% annual gain, marking its strongest performance since 2021. The last time the benchmark reported a larger gain was in 2021 when it surged by 13%. Contrastingly, in 2022, the index experienced a 5.5% loss.