Australian shares fall, but still at a 10-month high on US stimulus bets

Australian shares have slipped in early trade, but are still trading optimistically around their pre-COVID highs.

Markets put aside concerns about more contagious strains of COVID-19 and political instability in the United States.

By 10:40am AEDT, the benchmark ASX 200 had fallen (-0.2pc) to 6,746, around its highest value since late-February.

The broader All Ordinaries index was also down by a similar margin to 7,011 points, also near its highest level in 10 months.

Investors are betting US president-elect Joe Biden will push for more stimulus (hundreds of billions of dollars) into the US economy, and prop up global share prices even further — given Democrats now control the House, Senate and presidency.

Oil and gas stocks were the best…