Europe’s stocks recover all pandemic losses; ASX to cruise as S&P 500 comes off high

The Australian sharemarket is set to cruise after a bumper day, while in the Northern Hemisphere there is renewed optimism about an economic recovery from COVID.

At 7:00am AEST, ASX 200 futures were even on yesterday’s close.

The benchmark closed up 0.8 per cent at 6,886.

That was the highest it hit since February. It came as the Reserve Bank announced it would not be raising the cash rate, despite growing concerns about a property bubble.

Over in Europe, the continent’s benchmark STOXX 600 has just closed at a record high.

That means it has recovered all of its pandemic-driven losses.

It has now climbed more than 60 per cent from last year’s lows and surpassed its previous all-time high of 433.9 points in February 2020.