Investing.com - Australian shares opened 0.4% higher on Thursday morning, following a strong performance among US indices. This comes regardless of weaker manufacturing data from Europe and the United States that fell short of expectations. Yet, optimism prevails that higher interest rates might be beginning to impact worldwide economies.
By 10:15am AEST (12:15am GMT) ASX 200 Futures were flat while the S&P/ASX 200 added 31 points or 0.4% to 7,179.5.
During US trading, technology and real estate played pivotal roles in pushing the S&P 500 towards its best single-day performance since June. However, purchasing manager surveys signaled caution regarding economic deceleration across both sides of the Atlantic.
Despite these warnings, the S&P 500 experienced a rise of around 1.1%. The only sector within this broader index witnessing a dip was energy shares which followed suit with declining oil and gas future prices.
Dow Jones Industrial Average also joined the upward trend adding roughly 184 points or an increase of half percent while the NASDAQ Composite saw gains soaring up to around one-and-a-half percent all thanks to investor enthusiasm over artificial intelligence developments powering cutting-edge computing boom along with chipmakers' contributions.
In commodities trading, Brent crude oil slipped down losing about one-and-a-half percent settling at US$82.83 per barrel while gold climbed up adding approximately one percent reaching close to US$1916.39.
Australian government bonds didn't fare well either with yields dipping for both 2-year yield and 10-year yield. In contrast, U.S. treasury notes enjoyed increased yields for both 2-year and 10-year rates.
Among currencies, US Dollar Index slid slightly lower settling at about 103.3 while the AUD rose to 0.6481.
Moving on to Asia; China’s shares slid further after Tuesday's temporary rebound owing largely to increasing concerns over China's economic health sliding towards deflation coupled with impending policy decisions from Beijing which kept traders on edge.
Hong Kong stocks painted a different picture though as they rallied during afternoon trading sessions primarily driven by anticipation surrounding upcoming bank earnings reports alongside recent modest cuts in benchmark interest rates made earlier this week aimed at safeguarding banks' net profit margins.
Japan also had reason for optimism today as utility companies and steel firms led gains resulting in the Nikkei 225 closing moderately higher offsetting losses elsewhere within energy companies and trade houses ahead of imminent new home sales data release later today out of America before this week’s Jackson Hole symposium commences.