Australian stocks open 0.86pc higher

SYDNEY: Australian stocks opened 0.86 percent higher Wednesday on the back of reports that Germany and France will boost the size of the European rescue fund and some strong earnings reports in the United States.

At 10:10am (2310 GMT), the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was up 35 points at 4,221.9 after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.58 percent.

It followed a report in British newspaper The Guardian that the leaders of France and Germany, the eurozone's biggest economies, have agreed to boost the rescue fund to two trillion euros ($2.7 trillion).

The commodities-linked Australian dollar was also stronger at 102.50 US cents early in the session, up from 102.04 cents on Tuesday.