Australia

Please note: we will be discontinuing the Global Markets Report after 28 February.

Australian shares are set to open higher, after US stocks recovered slightly.

ASX futures were up 0.63% or 53 points as of 8:30am on Wednesday, suggesting a higher open.

US stocks staged a small recovery Tuesday, despite China's retaliation against the new US tariffs.

The moves were milder than Monday's big swings, and some signs of investor anxiety remained.

Stocks indexes rose. The Dow industrials added 0.1%, and the S&P 500 climbed 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led gains, up 1.1%.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was up 0.05% to US$76.00 a barrel, while gold was up 0.93% to US$2,841.52.

The Australian dollar was at 62.57 US cents, up from its previous close of 62.24.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.1% to 3,250.6, and the Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 1.3% to 1,911.09.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 2.8% to 20,789.96.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 0.7% to 38,798.37.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX gained 1.8% to 78,583.81.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.1% to 8,570.77.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX rose 0.4% to 21,505.7, and France's CAC 40 increased 0.7% to 7,906.4.

North America

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 0.3% to 44,556.04, the S&P 500 increased 0.7% to 6,037.88, and the Nasdaq gained 1.4% to 19,654.02.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Palantir Technologies Inc PLTR surging 23.99%, Super Micro Computer Inc SMCI jumped 8.60%, and Marathon Petroleum Corp MPC lifted 6.74%.

The biggest decliners were The Estee Lauder Companies Inc EL which dropped 15.91%, PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL fell 13.29%, and Merck & Co Inc MRK lost 8.88%.