Australian stocks open 0.98pc higher

SYDNEY: Australian stocks gained 0.98 percent at the open on Thursday amid fresh signs that Europe is starting to deal with the eurozone debt crisis.

At 10:15am (0015 GMT), the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was up 41.4 points at 4,245.7 after Slovak political parties agreed to hold a new vote this week on an expansion of the eurozone emergency fund.

The commodities-linked Australian dollar jumped on the news out of Europe, moving decisively above parity with the greenback.

It was trading at 101.58 US cents early on, more than two cents up on its 99.42 cents close locally on Wednesday.