1. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern". WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that "there is no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. WHO doesn't recommend limiting trade and movement."

2. In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio told his clients that even though he knows very little about pandemics, "When you don’t know, the best investment strategy is to be smartly diversified across geographic locations, across asset classes, and across currencies".

3. With the UK set to leave the EU at 11pm GMT on Friday, Scott Morrison is reportedly planning to finalise a free trade agreement with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson before the end of the year according to The Australian.

4. A year after the final report from the Hayne Royal Commission was released, Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh has warned against "knee-jerk" responses to Hayne's recommendations. "If you screw too tightly on some of the regulations, you can have inadvertent impacts," Bligh said.

5. The Dow Jones move 124.99 points or 0.43% higher to 28,859.44 overnight, while the S&P 500 rose 10.26 points or 0.31% to 3,283.66 and the Nasdaq rose 23.77 points or 0.26% to 9,298.94.