A good day on the ASX today with the local market soaring on the back of the global rally overnight and of course the RBA’s surprise interest rate hike of just 0.25% or 25 basis points which was below the expected 0.5% rise markets were anticipating.

RBA treasurer Jim Chalmers said despite the rate hike being less than expected, the 25 basis rate rise won’t make it much easier for Australians. In true big bank style, NAB has already announced it will raise its variable lending rates by 0.25% in response to the RBA’s rate hike today, passing on the full interest rate rise to customers. As a result of the lower-than-expected rate hike, the local market soared to close the session up 3.75% with every sector ending the day in positive territory.

A surge in technology stocks led the market gains today as tech stocks are heavily reliant on borrowings to build their businesses in the growth stage, therefore the RBA’s announcement of the rate hike coming in under expectations gives some borrowing relief for technology stocks.

Investors piled into emerging lithium producer Sayona Mining today after the company announced it is fast-tracking plans to move downstream in Quebec, with the launch of a pre-feasibility study by Sayona Quebec to consider the potential for lithium carbonate production at the North American Lithium Operation.

Lithium stocks across the board rallied today following the release of the Industry Department’s latest quarterly Resources and Energy report outlining that 75% of the world’s lithium consumption goes into rechargeable batteries and EV sales expected to grow tenfold over the next decade which places Australia, the world’s biggest exporter of lithium, in a good position to produce 46% of the world’s lithium supply. Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) led the ASX200 gains today, jumping 14.5%, while Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) added 12.31%.

And on the losing front, it was just Lottery Corp (ASX:TLC) on the ASX200 that posted a slim loss of 0.24% today.

The top traded stocks by Bell Direct clients today were BetaShares Geared Australian Equity Hedge Fund (ASX:GEAR), Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), and ANZ (AXS:ANZ).

On the economic data front, US JOLTs job openings for August data will be released overnight, while local investors will be anticipating the release of Australia’s trade balance data for August which is out on Thursday to see whether the country’s export surplus continued declining for the month.