Australian stocks soared on Wednesday, underpinned by a strong performance from financials.

Here’s the final scoreboard:

• ASX 200 5809.10 , 53.86 , 0.94%
• All Ords 5859.10 , 48.21 , 0.83%
• AUD/USD 0.767 , 0.001 , 0.13%

And the daily chart of the ASX 200 showing the index closed at the highest level since May 5, 2015 today.

The index hit a high of 5,817.3 midway through the session, coming within touching distance of the multi-year high of 5,827.5 struck on January 9.

It has now put on over 4% from the low of 5,582.7 on February 7.

And finally, here’s the performance of individual sectors:

• A-REITS -0.09%
• Consumer Discretionary -0.54%
• Consumer Staples 1.35%
• Energy -0.09%
• Financials 1.70%
• Healthcare 1.53%
• Industrials 0.11%
• Information Technology 1.44%
• Materials 0.62%
• Telecommunications 0.41%
• Utilities -0.44%
• All Ords Gold Index 0.55%

As the largest component in the index, the gains were propelled by financials which soared 1.7%.

That was on the back of a stonking performance by the Commonwealth Bank, the largest listed firm on the index by market capitalisation, which soared 2.3% to $84.53 following the release of a record first half profit of $4.91 billion before the start of trade.

That helped the other major banks with Westpac, ANZ and the NAB all adding 1.77%, 1.28% and 2.43% respectively.

The index was also helped by some solid performances from healthcare, consumer staples and materials which added 1.53%, 1.35% and 0.62% apiece.

By individual stock, Telstra rose 0.4% to $5.19 while Wesfarmers added 2.85% to $43.33. Woolworths slid 0.6% to $25.36.

Of the big miners, BHP Billiton gained 1.26% to $26.54 while rival Rio Tinto fell 0.2% to $68.40.

In terms of the biggest percentage decliners, Domino’s plummeted 14.4% while Primary Healthcare skidded 11.9%. IOOF Holdings and Seven West media also had a rough time of it, falling 7.7% and 5.8% respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, Boral jumped 6.1% while Computershare, Slater & Gordon and Treasury Wine Estates added 4.9%, 3.9% and 3.6% apiece.

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