On Thursday, shares in the Australian stock market rose, with the S&P/ASX 200 gaining 0.5%, driven by a tech rally on Wall Street and the approval of bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the US. This increase followed a year of limited gains and a 1.1% decline since January 1, with gains in tech, consumer-related, and banking sectors offsetting weakness in the mining sector.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 53 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 9 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 56.25 points.
The SPI futures are up 36 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Information Technology, up 1. 2 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Utilities, down 0.23 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was South32 (ASX:S32), closing 5.03 per cent higher at $3.55. It was followed by shares in JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) and Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY).
The worst-performing large cap was Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM), closing 2.19 per cent lower at $55.94. It was followed by shares in Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) and Worley (ASX:WOR).
Asian markets
Japan's Nikkei has gained 1.80 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has gained 1.67 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 0.75 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2,035.70 an ounce.
Light crude is trading $0.31 higher at US$71.68 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 67.22 US cents.
