The Australian sharemarket opened more than 3% stronger after Wall Street recorded a fourth consecutive session of gains.
At 1015 AEDT on Thursday, the S&P/ASX200 index was up 113.6 points, or 3.21%, at 3,653.6, while the All Ordinaries rose 107.1 points, or 3.08%, to 3,586.7.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was up 96 points at 3,661 on volume of 7,583 contracts.
Shares in BHP Billiton jumped 8.48% after gaining nearly 4% on Wednesday. The company is due holds its annual general meeting on Thursday, a day after dumping a takeover bid for Rio Tinto.
At 1043 AEDT, market turnover was 231.1 million shares, valued at $A950.3 million.
Wall Street headed into the Thanksgiving holiday on a positive note, amid government stimulus packages in the United States and Europe.
Traders said attacks in Mumbai (Bombay), India, on Wednesday night had no impact on world stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 247.14 points, or 2.91%, to 8,726.61. Standard & Poor's 500 index was 30.29 points higher, or 3.53%, to 887.68.
The Nasdaq added 67.37 points, or 4.6%, to 1,532.10.
US markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
European markets
However, European stocks closed slightly lower on Wednesday.
The European Commission called on Wednesday for a EU-wide fiscal stimulus package worth 200 billion euros ($US259.3 billion). It followed the latest rescue package by the US Federal Reserve.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 0.33% at 830.58 points. On Tuesday it was up by 0.6% and nearly 9% on Monday.
The index is down 44.6% to date this year due to the credit crisis and the global economic slowdown.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 closed 18.56 points lower at 4,152.69. More than 1.1 billion shares changed hands. The index gained more than 10% in the previous two sessions but is still down more than 35% for the year to date.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 4,560.5 points, up 0.08 points. In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3,169.85 points, down 39.71 or 1.24%.
The Swiss market index closed at 5,498.56 points, up 20.17 or 0.37%.
