The Australian sharemarket’s benchmark index has hit an all-time high after the S&P/ASX200 broke through the record mark last reached more than 11 years ago.

The index surged past its November 1, 2007, high of 6851.5 points just after 10am on Tuesday (AEST), peaking 20 minutes later at a new record of 6874.7 points.

After that, it briefly slipped back below the pre-global financial crisis milestone.

The ASX200 was introduced in March 2000 with a value of 3133.3 points as an index of the 200 largest companies on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The wider Australian sharemarket lost 54 per cent in the 16 months after its peak in November 2007 amid the GFC as the ASX200 bottomed out in February 2009.

AMP Capital economist Shane Oliver said the fact that the Reserve Bank was relatively tepid in cutting interest rates after the GFC was one of the reasons it had taken the ASX longer to recover compared to share markets in many other countries.

“Whereas the US, Europe and Japan had near zero interest rates and quantitative easing, Australia has had much higher interest rates [until just recently] and no money printing,” he said in a note on Tuesday.

“US shares made it back to their 2007 high in 2013 and global shares did so in 2014.”

The ASX200 has gained more than 23 per cent so far in 2019 and was trading at 6,854.7 points at 1345 AEST on Tuesday.

The broader All Ordinaries index – which is made up of the 500 largest companies on the ASX – broke records of its own last week, finishing on Wednesday at a record high and surpassing its intra-day high on Thursday.

The All Ordinaries was set up in 1980 with a value of 500 points.

-AAP