Yahoo Finance Aussie shares rise after Wall St rebound
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (^AXJO) was up 0.74 per cent at 12:20pm AEDT to 6,701.50 points after rebounding 1 per cent at session highs.
The broader All Ordinaries (^AORD) was also 0.81 per cent higher to 6,973.30 points.
Australian mining company GME Resources, which shares the same ASX code as GameStop (GME) has been put in a trading halt, after its share price continued to benefit from the chaos overseas.
Shares in the company soared more than 50 per cent - their highest level since 2018.
What happened this morning?
The Australian share market is expected to rise at the open, after experiencing its worst trading day since September on Thursday.
The ASX200 shed around 2 per cent - the equivalent of $41 billion - on Thursday, with all sectors trading lower. Technology lost the most, down 4.76 per cent.
Today could be a new day however, with Wall Street rebounding overnight thanks to a broad rally as earnings season got off to a strong start and fears lessened around hedge funds selling long positions to cover shorts.
The rally in the US was led by tech heavyweights Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.
And here’s what you missed overnight
US trading platform Robinhood has banned buying GameStop, with traders only allowed to sell the stock. It’s caused an uproar in the investor world, with retail traders angry that hedge fund managers are still able to purchase and short the stock.
It’s even prompted outrage from US senators, Elon Musk and the instigator of it all, WallStreetBets founder Jaime Rogozinki.
Buy now, pay later: Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn expects regulators to come down on buy now, pay later platforms like Afterpay and Zip.
"I don't think the focus and scrutiny is going to go away," Comyn said of the matter, adding: "If anything, it is going to increase, but I think there will be clearly divergent views for some time about the need for regulation and when that will most likely come into effect."
Travel restrictions: Victoria’s travel restrictions to NSW are set to ease further with “red zones” expected to be eliminated today.
Climate can’t wait: US President Joe Biden has signed executive orders to transform the country’s fossil-fuel powered economy into a clean-burning one, saying “we can’t wait any longer” to address the climate crisis.
The orders include pausing oil and gas leasing on federal land and targeting subsidies for those industries.
With AAP.
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