At noon AEST on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 37.3 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 7,826.4, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 38 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 8,083.6.
Nine of the ASX's 11 sectors were higher at midday and two were lower, health care and property. The mining sector was the biggest gainer, rising 1.6 per cent.
Rio Tinto added 3.3 per cent to a six-week high of $125.76, BHP was up 2.0 per cent to $45.145, and Fortescue had advanced 1.7 per cent to $25.27.
Gold miners were down even as the precious metal changed hands at around $US2,341 an ounce, with Newmont dropping 1.4 per cent and Evolution falling 0.6 per cent.
All of the Big Four banks were higher, with Westpac, CBA and NAB all advancing 0.5 per cent and NAB climbing 0.4 per cent.
Ansell had rose 6.8 per cent to $25.51 after the glovemaker raised $400 million from institutional investors to partially fund its acquisition of Kimberly-Clark's personal protective equipment business.
Hutchison, which owns a half-stake in TPG, had advanced 20.5 per cent to 4.7c, after rising 25.8 per cent on Monday. It wasn't immediately clear why.
MotorCycle Holdings, a chain of dealerships and accessories group stores, was flat at $1.555 after disclosing it was the latest company to fall victim to a cyber attack.
A threat actor unlawfully injected malicious code into two websites used in its business that may have resulted in the exposure of customers' personal information, the company said.
The Australian dollar was at a five-day high against its US counterpart, buying 66.07 US cents, from 65.80 US cents at Monday's close.
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