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The Australian sharemarket has surged back to close up 5.8% for the day, bouncing back after its worst fall since 1987 on Monday.
Futures markets are pointing to a strong day ahead for US markets, but they have become a less reliable indicator than usual amid intense volatility on global bourses.
The Australian market’s extraordinary rebound on Tuesday was led by mining stocks that have been battered by the Covid-19 outbreak, but banks, other financial stocks, and supermarkets also soared.
Grocery wholesaler Metcash was the biggest gainer, skyrocketing by 27%.
Airline stocks were smashed as flag carrier Qantas slashed its flights. Qantas dropped 5.3% while rival Virgin Australia plummeted 8.7%.
Tuesday’s gains aren’t enough to claw back many of the extraordinary losses experienced by the market over the past three weeks, including Monday’s extraordinary 9.7% tumble.
The coronavirus rout means gains since October 2016 have been wiped out.
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“The planets and our moon are providing some early morning entertainment,” AP reports.
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and a crescent moon will be clustered together in the southeastern sky just before daybreak. Mercury will peek above the horizon.
All this is happening amid the earliest March equinox in 124 years.
The vernal equinox, which marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere will occur late Thursday night in the US. That’s the earliest since 1896.
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