Wall Street has closed higher, as speculation mounts that the Federal Reserve may relaunch programmes to further stimulate the economy, when it meets on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones index on Monday gained 145 points, or 1.3%, to 10,753. And the Nasdaq Composite gained 40 points, or 1.7% to 2355.
Earlier, in London, the FTSE 100 ended on 5,602 up 94 points.
The Nikkei in Tokyo was closed for a market holiday.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished on 21,977 up 6 points.
Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 Index closed down seven points, at 4631.
The NZX 50 closed up four points at 3216.
At 8am on Tuesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 72.95 US cents, 77.02 Australian, 46.90 pence, 62.50 yen and 0.5583 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 67.03.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US80.14 per barrel.
Gold hit a fresh record in London of $US1283 per ounce. It later eased and was trading at $US1278.30 per ounce.
