Asian Markets Seen Firmer After Wall Street Turns Positive

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 439.58 points, or 1.6%, to 27,940.47, the S&P 500 gained 67.12 points, or 2.01%, to 3,398.96 and the Nasdaq Composite added 293.87 points, or 2.71%, to 11,141.56.

Oil prices recovered some of the losses they saw in the prior trading session when they hovered near three-month lows.

U.S. crude rose 3.5% and Brent added 2.5%, although COVID-19 outbreaks still threaten to slow a global economic recovery. U.S. crude eased 0.5% in early Asian trade on Thursday to $37.88 a barrel.

Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at Australian financial services firm AxiCorp, said in a note that “in the background … continues to be COVID-19 concerns and the delicate balancing act needed to return economies to a new normal and manage the likely rise in cases in the northern hemisphere when social activities move indoors, and (COVID-19) could spread more aggressively.”