Shares in Japan set to rise following bounce on Wall Street; oil prices drop more than 10%

SINGAPORE — Shares in Japan looked set for a higher start on Thursday, following an overnight bounce on Wall Street after oil prices fell sharply from a recent surge.

The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 25,445 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 25,400. That compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 24,717.53.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.36% in morning trade.

Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 gained 2.57% to 4,277.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 653.61 points, or 2%, to 33,286.25. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.59% to 13,255.55.

Those gains on Wall Street came as oil prices on Wednesday sharply declined, with both international benchmark Brent crude and U.S. crude futures tumbling more than 10%.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.003 after a recent decline from around 99.

The Japanese yen traded at 115.90 per dollar, weaker than levels below 115.2 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7311, off lows below $0.726 seen earlier in the week.