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After a volatile start, the Australian share market has regained its momentum despite the continuing increase in coronavirus cases.
By 3:25pm AEDT, the ASX 200 index had jumped by 241 points (or 5 per cent) to 5,083.
The Australian dollar had lifted to 61.75 US cents.
More than 660,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world, and more than 30,000 have died.
Australia now has more than 4,000 cases of COVID-19.
Despite the worsening health crisis, global stock markets rebounded last week after governments and central banks pumped trillions of dollars worth of stimulus into their economies to cushion the blow of the coronavirus pandemic.
"If you've spent any time ocean fishing, you're probably aware of the term 'sucker hole'," AxiCorp's chief market strategist Stephen Innes said.
"[It is] a colloquial term referring to a short spate of good weather that "suckers" sailors into leaving port just in time for a storm to resume at full force.
"Well, that's what last week's market felt like as now we are about to enter a vortex of bad earnings, bad economic data, and bankruptcies.
He is not the only analyst who thinks the market will "run out of momentum and ready themselves for further losses over the week".
"The sad reality is that until the world starts making evidential progress in the fight against COVID-19 … pricing in a V-shaped recovery in asset markets remains delusional hype at best, or reckless stupidity at worst," said Jeffrey Halley, OANDA's senior market analyst.
The best performing sectors are healthcare and consumer staples, driven by Mayne Pharma Group (+19.2pc), Cochlear (+15.7pc) and Ramsay Health Care (+11.2pc).
Ansell shares, in particular, surged by 24.5 per cent after the medical glove maker reaffirmed its full-year earnings forecast at a time when most companies were retracting their rosy expectations about future profits.
In addition, the company said it was experiencing "very strong demand" for its surgical gloves as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
The major banks have also rebounded, after their share prices were battered in recent weeks.
NAB, ANZ, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank have risen between 5.2 and 7 per cent.
Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have risen by 8 and 6.9 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the worst performers have mainly been commercial property stocks, with tougher social-distancing restrictions leading to a flood of retail closures.
Shares in Scentre Group, Abacus Property, Growthpoint and Cromwell Property have fallen between 4 and 5 per cent each.
Topics: stockmarket, currency, oil-and-gas, mining-industry, company-news, health, diseases-and-disorders, covid-19, australia, european-union, united-states
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