Strong opens are expected Thursday for the New Zealand and Australia stock markets, with traders seeing a sharply positive lead from Wall Street.
New Zealand's sharemarket posted a solid gain on Wednesday.
The benchmark NZX-50 index advanced 41.0 points or 1.3 percent to close at 3,077.1.
The NZ Stock Exchange reported trading volume of 37.9 million shares valued at NZ$83.7 million.
Among the volume leaders, Telecom Corp of NZ closed up NZ$0.05, SkyCity Entertainment was up .08, Fletcher Building was up .09, Contact Energy was down .04 and Air NZ was down .02. Auckland International Airport was up .02.
Across the Tasman, Australia's market joined the upward move, boosted by better than expected data on Q2 GDP.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 91.5 points or 2.1 percent at 4,495.7 and the broader All Ordinaries Index was up 88.0 points or 2.0 percent at 4,526.8.
Trading volume was 2.01 billion shares valued at A$5.8 billion.
There were 720 stocks closing higher, 364 lower and 332 unchanged.
The resources sector was strong, with world mining leader BHP Billiton gaining A$0.86 or 2.3 percent and rival Rio Tinto up $2.15 or 3.1 percent.
Energy leader Woodside Petroleum added $1.03 while natural gas producer Santos added nine cents.
In the financial sector, Australia and NZ Bank was up .55, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was up $1.01, National Australia Bank was up .65 and Westpac Bank was also up .65.
In overseas trading, U.S. stocks rallied sharply on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a gain of 254.75 points or 2.54 percent at 10,269.47, the Nasdaq Composite index rose 62.81 points or 2.97 percent to 2,176.84 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 30.96 points or 2.95 percent at 1,080.29.
All of the other major Asia/Pacific region markets except China's closed higher on Wednesday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average gained 102.96 points or 1.17 percent to close at 8,927.02.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 87.34 points or 0.43 percent at 20,623.83.
The Shanghai Composite index in China declined 15.92 points or 0.60 percent to 2,622.88.
In India, the BSE 30/SENSEX index added 234.75 points or 1.31 percent to close at 18,205.87.
The Jakarta Composite index in Indonesia was up 53.43 points or 1.73 percent at 3,135.32.
South Korea's KOSPI/Seoul Composite index rose 21.94 points or 1.26 percent to 1,764,69.
The Taiwan Weighted Index was up 51.97 points or 0.68 percent at 7,668.25.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.