ASX 200 likely to surge; Wall Street gains

The Australian share market is poised to open higher on Wednesday following a positive night on Wall Street.  The markets awaits US Federal Reserve's meeting minutes due later in the global day for clues on interest rates, even as the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) governor warned of more hikes to come.

According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200  would open 47 points or 0.65% higher. On Tuesday, the benchmark index rose 0.6% to 7,181.3 points.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rose 1.18%, the S&P 500 surged 1.36%, and the NASDAQ gained 1.36%.

In Europe, the Stoxx 50 rose 0.5%, the FTSE gained 1%, the CAC surged 0.4%, and the DAX ended 0.3% higher.

The MSCI All-World index of shares rose 0.76%.

Bond yields

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were down to 3.7689% while the yield on the two-year note fell to 4.5124%.

The dollar index fell 0.353%, while the euro rose 0.32% to US$1.0274.

Oil prices rise

Crude prices rose after Saudi Arabia said OPEC+ was sticking with output cuts and could take further steps to balance the market, outweighing global recession worries and concern about China's rising COVID-19 case numbers.

• Brent crude LCOc1 rose 2.1% to US$89.29 per barrel.

• WTI crude was up 2.16% to US$81.77 per barrel.

Gold prices surge

Safe-haven gold prices advanced, helped by a retreat in the dollar and benchmark US Treasury yields in holiday thinned-trading.

• Spot gold gained 0.2% to US$1,741.67 an ounce, while US gold futures rose 0.23% to US$1,741.40 an ounce.

Meanwhile, iron ore futures dropped on Tuesday as rising COVID cases in the world's top steelmaker China fanned demand concerns, although low inventories lent some support.

The most-traded January iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange ended day-time trade 2% lower at 725 yuan (US$101.27) a tonne.