The ASX will regain Monday’s losses if the overnight 31 point rise in ASX 200 futures is any guide, thanks to a rebound on Wall Street this morning with an accelerating surge in the last hour of trading.
The Dow closed up 671 points, or 2.9%, to 24,204. The S&P 500 added 70 points to 2,659, for a gain of 2.7%. The Nasdaq climbed 228 points, or 3.3%, to 7,221.
All three posted their biggest one-day percentage advance since August 2015.
Helping sentiment was a good day for two tech giants – Microsoft shares surged 7.6% and Apple shares jumped 4.8%.
Oil eased a touch, gold rose a bit.
Monday saw the ASX fall to a level not seen since October last year as investors worried about the fallout from a potential trade war between the US and China.
The ASX 200 ended the day down 30 points, or 0.5%, at 5790, after dropping below the 5,800 level for the first time in more than five months.
The All Ordinaries lost 27 points, or 0.5%, to trade at 5901 while the Australian dollar traded at 77.18 US cents.
Overnight the dollar rose half a cent to around 77.60 as the uS dollar weakened to its lowest level since mid February.
Sticks in Asia and Europe also fell on those trade fear wars, but well leaked stories about efforts by China over the weekend to finalise new regulations helped allay concerns about the outbreak of a trade war with the US.
Monday’s gains came after the worst week for the major indexes in more than two years; those losses were heavily driven by concerns over US protectionist trade policy and Chinese counter measures.
While US trade remains a primary focus, traders focused on reports that China and the US have been holding discussions in a bid to help stave off a trade war.
