Australia

Australian shares are set to open higher following the lead of Wall Street, which rose after falling for six straight days.

ASX futures were up 104 points or 1.61% at 6564 as of 7:00am on Thursday, pointing to a gain at the open.

US stocks turned upward Wednesday, a relief after a week of punishing losses. The S&P 500 climbed 2% as bond yields tumbled, leaving stocks looking more attractive to investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 550 points, or 1.9%. Both indexes had fallen for six straight days as of Tuesday, and earlier this week the Dow joined the S&P 500 in a bear market. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.05%.

In recent days, investors have turned their attention to the U.K. The British government last week unveiled the country's biggest tax cuts in decades. The news spooked investors and sent the yield on the 10-year sovereign bond soaring earlier this week.

On Wednesday, though, bond yields came back to earth after the Bank of England said it would buy U.K. government bonds with long maturities "on whatever scale is necessary." That helped drive Wednesday's rise in US stocks, said David Lefkowitz, head of US equities for UBS's global wealth management business.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil rose 3.4% to $US89.20 a barrel, gold edged up 1.88% to US$1,659.47

In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds dropped to 3.41% while the 10 Year rose to 4.09%. Overseas, the yield on 2 Year US Treasury notes rose to 4.11% and the yield on the 10 Year US Treasury notes was up at 3.72%.

The Australian dollar hit 65.14 US cents up from the previous close of 64.32 The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies edged down to 104.11

Asia

Chinese shares ended lower, resuming a recent downtrend amid sluggish market sentiment stemming from an uncertain economic outlook. Market turnover is still relatively subdued ahead of the National Day holiday starting next month, Dongguan Securities says in a note. Miners and auto makers were sold off, with Huayou Cobalt sliding 10% and Great Wall Motor declining 4.4%. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.6% to 3045.07, while the Shenzhen Composite Index and the ChiNext Price Index each dropped 2.6%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 3.4% lower at 17250.88, logging its worst one-day percentage loss since May amid weak sentiment across sectors. Property developers were sold off as news of CIFI Holdings missing payment of nonstandard debt sparked fears of worsening liquidity. Country Garden Holdings slid 13%, Longfor Group lost 5.2% and CIFI slumped 32%. Worries about the global economic outlook dragged on manufacturers including Techtronic Industries, which fell 5.9%, and Sunny Optical, which dropped 2.8%. Tech shares also weighed on the market, with JD.com shedding 5.6% and Alibaba Group sliding 4.1%.

Japanese stocks end lower, dragged by falls in real estate and shipping stocks, as policy tightening by major central banks raises uncertainty over the global economic outlook. Major shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines drops 3.8% and Sumitomo Realty & Development loses 3.5%. The Nikkei Stock Average falls 1.5% to close at 26173.98.

Europe

European stocks rose in trade yesterday. The Pan-European STOXX Europe 600 Index ended up 0.30%, the German DAX is up 0.36%, while the French CAC is up 0.19%.

In London, the FTSE closed up 0.3% on Wednesday after the Bank of England said it would buy U.K. government bonds with long maturities "on whatever scale is necessary" amid the pound's plummet.

"The Bank of England's u-turn (at least for now) on quantitative easing has given embattled buyers a reason to step back into the market, IG's chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp says. The BOE's intervention is being taken as a good sign, especially when compared with the bank's inaction earlier in the week, Beauchamp says.

The U.K. index's top three fallers were Land Securities Group PLC, Segro PLC and British Land Co.

North America

US stocks turned upward Wednesday, a relief after a week of punishing losses. The S&P 500 climbed 2% as bond yields tumbled, leaving stocks looking more attractive to investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 550 points, or 1.9%. Both indexes had fallen for six straight days as of Tuesday, and earlier this week the Dow joined the S&P 500 in a bear market. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.05%.

Bond yields swiveled after the Bank of England said it would begin buying U.K. government bonds in a bid to stabilize markets. In the US, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note briefly climbed above 4% for the first time in more than a decade, only to quickly slide back down. By Wednesday afternoon, the 10-year yield registered its steepest one-day drop since March 2009.

Stocks this year have come under increasing pressure as investors focus on soaring inflation and central banks' efforts to fight it with higher interest rates. The Federal Reserve last week raised rates for the fifth time this year.

More signs are pointing to slowing economic growth, including, by one measure, the first monthly decline in house prices in years.

In recent days, investors have turned their attention to the U.K. The British government last week unveiled the country's biggest tax cuts in decades. The news spooked investors and sent the yield on the 10-year sovereign bond soaring earlier this week.

The situation lifted interest rates elsewhere, including the US. And as rates climbed, investors had more places to put their money for returns and stocks looked more expensive.
On Wednesday, though, bond yields came back to earth after the Bank of England said it would buy U.K. government bonds with long maturities "on whatever scale is necessary."

That helped drive Wednesday's rise in US stocks, said David Lefkowitz, head of U.S. equities for UBS's global wealth management business.

"For the last several trading days, the pressure on US stocks has been a reflection of some of the turmoil in the fixed-income market," Mr. Lefkowitz said. "As that turmoil settles down, we're seeing a better tone for equities."

"There's fear that the whole system collapses and demand is not able to withstand this amount of rate hikes," said Agnes Belaisch, a chief strategist at Barings Investment Institute. "There are pieces of evidence out there that could be signs of recession."

Global crude-oil benchmark Brent gained 3.5% to $89.32 a barrel.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on Twitter that damage to the Nord Stream pipelines that deliver Russian gas to central Europe was the result of sabotage. Russian state-owned Gazprom issued what analysts said appeared to be a threat to cut exports of the fuel through Ukraine.

In U.S. trading at 4 p.m. ET, shares of Biogen were up 30% after the company said its experimental Alzheimer's drug significantly slowed the disease's progression in a large study. Its partner in the study, Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, rose 17% in Tokyo trading.
Apple shares slipped 1% after Bloomberg reported that the company is dropping plans to boost iPhone production.