James Gruber

Cochlear was a big contributor to the losses slumping 41%, its worst session ever, after sharply downgrading its annual underlying earnings forecast.

Today, tech stocks may get a boost given the positive lead from the Nasdaq, while energy stocks may gain on higher crude prices.

Turning to commodity markets and on those oil prices, they jumped after a surprise gasoline and distillate stock decline in the US and the uneasy Iran ceasefire.

US gasoline stocks fell by 4.6 million barrels to 228 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 3.4 million barrels in the week to 108.1 million barrels.

Brent crude futures settled up 3.5% to $101.91 a barrel.

Base metal prices were higher on Wednesday after the ceasefire extension.

Copper futures hit 7-week highs, up 2%, while aluminium futures rose 1.2%.

Gold futures advanced on bargain hunting after hitting 1-week lows.

The futures settled up 0.7% to $4,753 an ounce.

Iron ore futures were steady, up 0.1% to 107.11 US dollars a ton.

Let's take a look at currencies.

They were mixed against the US dollar.

The euro dropped 0.3% to 1.1705 US dollars.

The Japanese yen slipped 0.1% to 159.56 yen.

And the Aussie dollar rose 0.1% to 71.59 US cents.

Let's head to Wall Street now.

The Dow Jones Index finished up 0.7%.

The S&P 500 was 1.1% high and the Nasdaq added 1.6%.

A closer look at the trading day there.

Wall Street gained on Wednesday following the ceasefire extension and better than expected earnings results.