Wall Street is also providing a strong lead for the ASX, with US stocks on track to finish at new records.
The Australian dollar jumped 0.6 per cent against the greenback, and is buying 78.9 US cents.
Meanwhile, gold has risen to a four-month high of US$1,323 an ounce.
Brent crude oil surged to $US70 a barrel overnight, but has since settled down to $US69.15 (which is still a three-year high).
Renewed optimism
The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have all experienced gains of at least 0.7 per cent each.
Yesterday, the three Wall Street indexes fell together for the first time in 2018 "” after investors were rattled by a Bloomberg report that China would slow, or even end, its US government bond purchases.
Bloomberg’s report was dismissed as «fake news» by China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, in a statement published on its website…
