The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday closed up 32.8 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 6998.3.
The broader All Ordinaries gained 37 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 7230.4.
Tiger Brokers chief investment officer Brett Reynolds attributed the gains to a strong result for Woodside Energy, which on Tuesday posted a fourfold increase in profit for the first half of 2022, to $1.8 billion.
"Energy's a major problem for governments around the world - forget about raising interest rates to slow things down, we need energy prices to come down, because energy's going to sap people's dollars more than anything," he told AAP.
"The biggest thing facing us is no longer just interest rates, it's energy pricing, because we all use that."
Elsewhere in the sector, coalminer Whitehaven's shares cracked $8 for the first time, rising 1.3 per cent to 8.06, while New Hope was up 1.2 per cent to $5.06.
The heavyweight mining sector was basically flat, with losses for BHP and Rio Tinto balanced by gains for the lithium companies and goldminers.
Emerging uranium producer Paladin Energy was up 5.8 per cent amid talk of Japan turning to more nuclear power.
BHP fell 1.0 per cent to $41.75 and Rio Tinto dipped 0.8 per cent to $95.52, while Pilbara Minerals gained 2.6 per cent, Allkem added 1.6 per cent and Northern Star gained 4.4 per cent.
IGO rose 3.8 per cent to $13.15 after the nickel and lithium miner reported record underlying full-year earnings of $717 million.
The tech sector gained 1.8 per cent following Monday's 4.4 per cent sell-off, with Altium gaining 3.8 per cent and Xero up 1.8 per cent.
Both Wisetech Global and Flight Centre rose after separate reports in The Australian that both firms were looking to acquire two different US companies.
Flight Centre was up 3.5 per cent to $17.35 following the report about its alleged interest in leading US travel company Altour International.
Flight Centre said it didn't comment on media speculation but confirmed it was having "various discussions with a number of parties regarding strategic opportunities".
Wisetech Global put out a similar statement about its reported interest in US company Envase Technologies. Wisetech shares finished up 3.8 per cent to $58.38.
Bubs Australia dropped 5.0 per cent to 57.5c after the infant formula maker declared a $11.4m statutory loss for the 12 months to June 30, although Bubs said excluding share-cased payments and equity-linked transactions it had made an underlying profit of $4.8m.
The Australian dollar was buying 68.98 US cents, from 68.55 US cents at Monday's close.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday finished up 32.8 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 6998.3.
* The broader All Ordinaries gained 37 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 7230.4.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 69.76 US cents, from 69.76 US cents at Monday's close
* 95.85 Japanese yen, from 95.16 yen
* 69.20 Euro cents, from 68.96 cents
* 59.06 British pence, from 58.72 pence
* 112.47 NZ cents, from 112.24 cents.
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