** Consumer discretionary stocks .AXDJ jump 1.3% to a record high

** Conglomorate Wesfarmers WES.AX and gaming firm Aristocrat Leisure ALL.AX among the top gainers, rising 1% and 3.5% respectively

** Stella Ong, market analyst at Superhero, says that local market, especially rate-sensitive tech and consumer sectors, is buoyed by expectations of a February rate cut

** Unanimous consensus among major banks points to surprising decrease in core inflation, potentially prompting RBA to cut borrowing costs

** Morgan Stanley forecasts an optimistic 2025 for consumers, with expected tax and rate cuts revitalizing normal spending growth

** Sub index last year gained 20.7%, outperforming the benchmark index ASX 200's .AXJO gain of 7.5%

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com;))