Australian shares are expected to continue the rally from yesterday, as Wall Street recouped losses with oil prices also gaining.
ASX futures were up 0.1 per cent to 7,268, by 6:51am AEDT.
The Australian dollar was fairly steady at 71.54 US cents.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6 per cent to 35,479, while the S&P 500 gained 1.6 per cent to 4,641.
The Nasdaq Composite added 2 per cent to 15,283.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe was up 1.5 per cent.
Oil prices rebounded from concerns the spread of Omicron would crimp demand for fuel and signs of improving supply.
Brent crude oil was up 3.5 per cent to $US74.00 a barrel this morning.
World shares fell earlier in the week after Omicron infections multiplied around the world, but strong corporate earnings and reports that Moderna COVID-19 vaccine provides protection against the variant gave investors hope on Tuesday.
US stocks had also taken a hit after US President Joe Biden’s $US1.75 trillion ($2.44 trillion) spending bill was dealt a potentially fatal blow on Sunday.
“We think this was kind of overdue over the past couple of weeks. We’re kind of set up for a rally in time for Santa Claus, which officially begins next Monday,” said Scott Brown, technical market strategist at LPL Financial, explaining that a so-called “Santa Claus rally” can happen in the last five trading days of the year and first two of the new year.
A sombre US trading session on Monday underscored market fears that rapidly rising cases of the coronavirus variant would yet again force governments around the world to impose lockdown measures, potentially choking off fragile economic recoveries from similar measures earlier in the year.
Still, investors were on Tuesday cautiously optimistic that the economic hit would not be as severe this time, buying stocks and selling perceived safe-haven currencies such as the dollar and Japanese yen.
More to come.
ABC/Reuters
