World stock markets jumped on the nomination of White House economic adviser Ben Bernanke as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Asian share markets gave up some of their gains, but Tokyo's Nikkei average still ended 1.33 per cent higher.
Share prices in Europe were expected to open firm, with spread betters in London calling the FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX indices 11-29 points higher.
But bond prices fell as some investors worried he may not be tough on inflation.
Toru Otsuka, deputy manager of investment information at Mizuho Investors Securities, said stock market investors welcomed Mr Bernanke's nomination to succeed Alan Greenspan in January.
"First of all, he is seen as following the same path as Greenspan, so it is likely that US monetary policy will remain unchanged. Another reason is that a successor was nominated earlier than expected, so that is a positive surprise," he said.
"Thirdly, since he is a leading researcher of deflation, there are expectations that he won't take extreme tightening measures." That same perception worried bond markets, though.
On Wall Street, blue chips had posted their biggest one-day point gains in six months, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.66 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.61 per cent. The dollar edged up in Asian trade to 115.65 yen from around 115.42 in late New York on Monday, when it had fallen as low as 115.05.