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Starting in the US, overnight Wall St continued its rebound sparked by a revival of the AI trade, with gains primarily lead by Google parent company Alphabet. The S&P 500 increased by 1.59%, the Dow Jones gained 0.44%, while the Nasdaq jumped 2.69%, as other big tech names such as Broadcom, Palantir, AMD and Nvidia all followed Alphabet’s lead and posted gains.

Across other international markets, it was a mixed bag of results. In Europe, the broad Stoxx 600 edged slightly up 0.14%, as a 0.64% gain in Germany’s DAX was offset by declines of 0.05% for the British FTSE, and 0.29% for the French CAC.

And in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng posted gains of 1.97%, while the Chinese CSI fell 0.12%, and the Japanese Nikkei saw a 2.4% drop.

Back home in Australia, the ASX 200 opened the trading week by advancing 1.29%, earning back some of the over 2.5% drop seen last week. 10 of the 11 key sectors posted gains, with the energy index the sole outlier. Notably the information technology sector, which has been hammered in recent trading sessions, saw a 2.39% advance, spurred by a 7.1% gain for Life 360 (ASX:360).

Fertility services provider Monash IVF (ASX:MVF) saw its share price skyrocket up 44% after it rejected a $312 million takeover offer, sparking optimism for the long-term valuation of the company.

What to watch today:

• And now looking ahead to today, the SPI futures indicate that the recent rally will continue, predicting a 0.53% jump at the open of trade today.
• Moving to commodities, Crude Oil is trading up 1.55% at USD58.96 per barrel, as investors react to increased bets of a US interest rate cut in December, and growing uncertainty over a peace deal in the Russia – Ukraine conflict.
• In precious metals, both Gold and Silver are trading higher on the release of fresh economic data out of the US – Gold is up 1.73% to USD4132 per ounce, while Silver has jumped 2.7% to USD51.35 per ounce.
• And Iron Ore remains nearly flat at USD104.42 per tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Finally, we’ll end on some trading ideas for your consideration today. Bell Potter have upgraded their recommendation on mineral assaying provider Chrysos Corporation (ASX:C79) from a hold to a buy, with a 12-month price target of $9.40 per share. This comes after the company posted a 54% increase in YoY revenue, and a strong pickup in adoption globally.
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in GPT Group (ASX:GPT), indicating that the price may rise from the close of $5.68 per share to the range of $6.10 to $6.25 per share over a period of 55 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.