China's president Xi Jinping told the World Health Organisation the country would make any vaccine universally available, Bloomberg reported, while early results from a US biotechnology company's experimental vaccine showed promise.
The S&P 500 closed up 3.15%, the FTSE 100 gained 4.29% and Australasian markets closed higher.
Canadian markets were closed for a public holiday.
Base metals were up across the board on the London Metal Exchange and the spot gold price has softened from above US$1,760 an ounce to $1,738/oz earlier.
Among the mining majors, diversified Anglo American (LSE: AAL) surged 11.6% yesterday but remains at the lower end of its one-year range.
Gold major Newmont (NYSE: NEM) touched a one-year high intraday of US$68.77 but closed down 2.4%.
Finally in morning Australian trade, BHP (ASX: BHP) was up 4.4% at the time of writing.
