1. Qantas has opened limited flights to Melbourne, for Australians hoping to fly into Australia from Los Angeles and London.

2. Extended trading on Thursday evening, after a number of companies released their first-quarter earnings, ramped up share prices for TripAdvisor, Motorola, Roku, Yelp, Stamps.com, Qorvo, Zillow, Uber Technologies, Live Nation and Booking Holdings.

3. Oil prices slipped overnight hinting concerns over global supply and demand, after Saudi Arabia increased their selling price and China reported a surprise increase in oil exports last month.

4. Adelaide Zoo is mourning the loss of Australia's oldest and much-loved hippopotamus, Brutus, after he was euthanised on Thursday morning at the age of 54.

5. The Dow closed on a high of 0.89% at 23,875.89. S&P 500 rose 1.15% to 2,881.19 and Nasdaq jumped up 1.41% to 8,979.66.