About noon AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 60.9 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 8,383.9, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 59.5 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 8,626.8.
With a few hours of trading left, the ASX200 was on track to finish the week 1.2 per cent higher after a small 0.1 per cent loss the previous week.
It was also set to break Tuesday's record for its highest finish ever, although it would need a bigger jump to eclipse that day's all-time intraday record of 8,446.4.
At midday, every sector was at least marginally higher except for tech, which had dropped 3.4 per cent, weighed down by its biggest component.
WiseTech Global had fallen 9.8 per cent to a two-week low of $125.27 after the logistics platform cut its guidance, saying the recent allegations against founder Richard White had caused distraction that would delay a new product launch.
The company's board also said an independent review had cleared Mr White of the allegations of undisclosed workplace relationships, inappropriate spending and bullying.
The ASX's energy sector was the best performing, up 2.9 per cent, with Woodside gaining 2.7 per cent, Whitehaven Coal adding 4.1 per cent and Deep Yellow growing 8.0 per cent.
A2Milk was the best-performing individual ASX200 component, soaring 17.7 per cent to $5.67 after managing director and chief executive David Bortolussi told the New Zealand milk company's annual general meeting that year-to-date trading was running ahead of plan and guidance.
All the big four banks were higher, with Westpac up 0.8 per cent, CBA growing 1.0 per cent, NAB climbing 0.9 per cent and ANZ adding 0.4 per cent.
In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP had climbed 0.9 per cent, Rio Tinto had added 1.5 per cent and Fortescue had grown 1.9 per cent.
Resolute Mining was up 0.6 per cent after confirming that its chief executive, Terry Holohan, and two other employees had been released from their two-week detention by authorities in Mali over what the company has described as unfounded allegations related to taxes and offshore accounts.
Resolute has paid $US80 million to Mali and promised to pay another $US80 million to secure their release.
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