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Wall Street shares poised to build on Monday’s gains

Last updated: 19:33 19 Apr 2016 AEST, First published: 14:33 19 Apr 2016 AEST

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Wall Street shares are set for a higher open after a good day yesterday, which saw stocks close at their highest levels of the year.

It came  as oil prices pared most of their post-Doha losses.

The broad-based S&P500, Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq Composite all posted gains which took their levels to the highest of the year, or in the case of the Dow, the highest level since July 2015.

The S&P500 ended up 0.7%, or 13.61 points at 2,094 - the highest since December.

The benchmark Dow closed 106.7 higher at 18,004, while the Nasdaq finished 21 higher at 4,960.

Meanwhile, in futures today, the S&P500 index is 9.5points ahead, the Nasdaq is over 31 to the good, while the Dow Jones Industrial Index is 47 clear.

Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei 225 gained 3.68% at 16,874, while the Shanghai Composite Index in China added 0.30% to 3,042.

US crude is up over 1% at US$40.18 a barrel.

In focus today will be a flurry of further earnings reports, including before the bell from the investment behemoth Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), pharma titan Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and TD Ameritrade (NYSE:AMTD).

In pre-market, L'Oreal (NYSE: LRLCY) shares are on the up after the French make-up group reported better-than-expected earnings.

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