One insurer is warning locals will have to pay higher premiums because of gaps in a $10 billion federal government plan to keep prices down. We've seen the destruction and devastation to communities caused by the cyclone and flooding in Far North Queensland - but it is also wreaking havoc on insurers, as my ABC Queensland colleagues have written in this article today. We'll be back to do it all again tomorrow, but until then you can catch up on today's developments below, or download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest news. That's it for the blog today - thanks so much for following along. Utilities was up 0.8%, and healthcare and consumer cyclicals both gained 0.7%.

The strongest growth came from industrials (+1.4%), followed by academic and educational services (+1.3%) and real estate (+1%). Looking at the sectors, all of them finished firmly in positive territory. Wednesday's performance for the local share market is also the highest close since February 7.

It follows a strong performance on Wall Street overnight as more traders bet on the possibility of interest rate cuts in 2024, thanks to the ongoing optimism out of the US Federal Reserve meeting last week.

The ASX has continued its strong gains throughout the day to set a new 100-day high, up 0.7% to 7,538 points at the close of trade on Wednesday.

Matthew janda pokersafeoff