What you need to know

SPI futures up 35pts to 5862

AUD at 77.22 US cents, 92.07 Japanese yen, 71.92 Euro cents and 51.80 British pence

On Wall Street, S&P 500 +0.9%, Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq +1.3%

In Europe, Stoxx 50 +1.2%, FTSE +0.8%, CAC +0.9%, DAX +1.7%

Spot gold down $US8.57, or 0.7%, to $US1195.65 an ounce

Brent crude down 5 US cents to $US63.40 a barrel

What's on today

Australia 11.30am Reserve Bank minutes from the April 7 board meeting are released, imports of goods, weekly consumer confidence; Germany ZEW financial markets report.

Stocks to watch

Sydney Airport SYD has reported its March 2015 traffic data which showed strong performance across its business lines. RBC Capital Markets said it expects the stock to react positively.

RBC Capital Markets has a "sector perform" on Whitehaven Coal and a price target of $1.80 a share.

UBS says Western Areas (buy) "remains the 'go to' nickel producer in our opinion, due to operational stability, low cash costs and a net cash position culminating in solid leverage to the nickel price"

Currencies

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said he expects the Australian dollar to fall further. "I'd be a bit surprised actually if it doesn't go down some more," Stevens said in New York, during a question-and-answer session following a speech before the American Australian Association.

The Aussie could face stiff headwinds later in the week too, said Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA Asia Pacific. "Domestic consumer-price index (CPI) data could pose a downside risk for AUD," he said.

The US dollar rose broadly, with the euro sliding more than half a per cent against the greenback, on growing concern that Greece may default on debts.

Commodities

Copper jumped to a three-week high after China eased monetary policy , only for prices to reverse as hopes of stronger demand receded. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit $US6173 a tonne, the highest since March 26, before closing at $US5990 a tonne, down 1 per cent on the previous close.

Oil prices are higher after data showing a partial draw in stockpiles at the delivery point for US crude helped steady a market weighed earlier by near record highs in Saudi production.

United States

US stocks surged, recovering nearly all of Friday's selloff, as technology shares including Apple  and Microsoft rallied before the industry's largest companies provide a clearer picture of quarterly earnings.

"If you want to foretell what may come down the pipe, tech companies are a good example of that," Krishna Memani, the New York-based chief investment officer at Oppenheimer Funds, said by phone. "Tech companies are often growth companies with a higher beta relative to the market. The world needs a good growth story."

IBM's first-quarter profit and sales beat analysts' estimates that were already significantly lowered as the new mainframe and cloud-computing services helped boost sales.

Halliburton beat analysts' estimates and accelerated the pace of job cuts ahead of a planned $US34.6 billion takeover of Baker Hughes. Halliburton has cut over the past two quarters a total of 9000 workers, or more than 10 per cent of its global workforce as the crash in oil prices forced drillers to cut back, according to Christian Garcia, interim chief financial officer.

Europe

Europe's main stock markets rebounded after China announced a raft of stimulus measures to bolster growth, eclipsing fears over Greece, dealers say.

Greece ordered state entities from municipalities to a fund meant for future generations to park idle cash at the central bank in a scramble on Monday to pay its bills. With IMF loan repayments due next month, Greece has been tapping into public cash reserves in temporary transactions.

What happened yesterday

Rate cut uncertainty is fuelling investor worry in the sharemarket, pushing values down, despite China's reassuring move to bolster its economy. The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 44.8 points, or 0.76pc, to 5833.1 on Monday