In Brussels, European leaders boosted its bailout package to $A1.4 trillion, while banks accepted a 50% write-down on their Greek bonds to reduce the country’s debt by around $134.3 billion.

However, Australia-listed stocks couldn’t bask in the immediate positive reaction such a breakthrough deal would bring as trading on the share market was halted only minutes after the opening bell.

According to reports, the exact nature of the glitch was still being investigated. The market finally reopened at 2pm AEDT with the S&P/ASX 200 index immediately soaring 2.6%.

At the final bell, the share market closed at a two-month high with the S&P/ASX 200 index up 105.7 points at 4348.2 while the All Ordinaries gained 103.1 points to 4403.9.

“The serious issue was the lack of opportunity for investors to either cover risk or increase exposure, particularly during this volatile period in Europe,” Parry International Trading managing director Gavin

Parry told Bloomberg.

“It is a highly embarrassing situation for the ASX and highlights the issue of having a single monopoly exchange operator.”

On the mining front, BHP Billiton finished 3.8% higher at $38.35, while rival Rio Tinto gained 4.4% to $69.70.

On the Final Call watchlist, iron ore goliath Fortescue Metals Group had a bumper session, jumping 8.9% to $5.03 while Lynas Corporation gained 7.1% to $1.275 at close.

Gold for immediate delivery dipped 0.2% to $US1721.05 an ounce, after European leaders approved an agreement with banks on write-downs for Greek government borrowing.

Newcrest Mining finished 1.6% higher at $A34.95, Medusa Mining gained 0.6% to $6.95, Perseus Mining climbed 2.2% to $3.30 and Kingsgate Consolidated added 2.4% to $7.97.

Base metals, for the most part, made gains on the London Metal Exchange in today’s trading in Asia.

Copper for three-month delivery was trading up 1.8% to $US7820 per tonne, nickel added 2.2% to $19,540/t while zinc gained 2.3% to $1897/t.

At 4.31pm AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading 1.2c higher at $1.052.