That momentum flowed through to the local bourse, which gained 1.75 per cent to finish the week slightly in the red, down 0.06 per cent.

Energy stocks led the market, jumping 3.75 per cent, as oil prices jumped again in a continued response to the decision of the OPEC+ group of major oil-producing nations to cut production quotas by 2 million barrels per day.

Beach Energy was among the sector’s best performers, closing up 5.5 per cent.

Virgin Money UK saw the biggest gains, up 10.2 per cent after the Bank of England’s stern ultimatum to the country’s pension funds earlier in the week. Pilbara Minerals saw high trade volumes as it shed 5 per cent to finish a choppy week at $4.69.

Qantas shares jumped another 3.2 per cent as investors continued to cheer the airline’s expected return to profit.

The Australian dollar suffered sharp swings overnight, touching a low of 61.70 US cents before rebounding. It was fetching 63.28 US cents at 5 pm AEDT.

As AGM season approaches, Amir said investors would be looking to see how company’s outlooks and guidance may have changed since their results came out, given the volatility they had experienced of late.

In the US, the reporting season will kick off in earnest on Friday with results from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., three of the country’s largest banks.

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Tweet of the day:

Quote of the day: ”FOMO leads people to chase this rally. Unfortunately, we still have plenty of time to ruin this rally.” Larry Weiss, head of equity trading at Instinet, was one of many on Wall Street searching for something – anything – to explain how yet another red-hot inflation number translated into the best day for bulls in a week.

You may have missed: Elon Musk is under a federal investigation related to his $US44 billion ($70 billion) takeover deal for Twitter, the social media company said in a court filing made public on Thursday. Twitter, which sued Musk in July to force him to close the deal, said attorneys for the Tesla Inc CEO had claimed “investigative privilege” when refusing to hand over documents it had sought.

with AP