On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index surged 3.1% to 1060.27 points overnight while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 2.8% to 10,018.28 points, its first close above the psychological 10,000 mark since June 28.
Commodities on the London Metal Exchange, for the most part, closed higher overnight. Copper for three-month delivery gained 0.6% to $US6645 per tonne, nickel jumped 1.3% to $19,150/t and zinc gained 0.2% to $1853/t.
The Australian market performed strongly, lifting early and maintaining its levels through the entire day. The market closed well up on yesterday, with the S&P-ASX 200 up 2.4% to 4356.7 at the end of trading and the All Ordinaries up 2.25% to 4374.
The mining sector also had a good day as the S&P 300 Metals and Mining Index rose 2.03% to close at 4110.6.
All of the major stocks did well. BHP Billiton gained 73c to $38.16, Rio Tinto added $1.21 to $67.05, Fortescue Metals Group gained 17c to $4.35 and OZ Minerals gained 3.5c to $1.07.
Cudeco regained much of the ground the company lost in yesterday’s sell-down, rising 44c to close trading at $4.65. Sandfire continued its run from yesterday, adding another 25c to close at $4.15, and Perseus Mining put on 10c to finish at $2.26.
Orocobre was the best of the mid-cap miners, up 19.5c to $1.695 on no particular news. Engineering and management solution company Ausenco rose 11c to $1.915, and Giralia Resources gained 11c to $1.96 on more solid drilling results from its McPhee Creek project.
Ramelius also had a good day, up 2.5c to 49c after announcing it will buy Harmony Gold’s Mt Magnet gold project for $40 million.
The strong performances in the markets over the past 24 hours may mean global equity markets have seen the signs of a base, according to CMC markets analyst David Taylor, who told Dow Jones Newswires it was a positive sign that the “risk trade was back on today and withstood the threat of some mid-session profit taking".
Herston Economics chief economist Clifford Bennett also told Newswires he could see the end of the bear run.
"Equity markets globally are looking very good to begin to price in strong manufacturing and consumer activity ... it is encouraging to see the major banks and brokerage houses suggesting caution, that there is still plenty of gloom and doom out there, even after the bull market has taken off,” he said.
“This suggests the shorts have yet to seriously exit and therefore the potential upside is awesome."
