The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 42.9 points, or 0.74 per cent, at 5,803.5 points at 1300 AEDT on Tuesday after it plunged 3.8 per cent just after it opened.

The broader All Ordinaries index was up 43.4 points, or 0.74 per cent, at 5,865.8 the morning losses were cauterised by a stimulus announcement by US President Donald Trump.

CommSec analyst James Tao says it clawed back some ground in morning trade after Mr Trump announced a stimulus package to help US businesses overcome the virus impact.

"The stimulus plan boosted confidence a little, " Mr Tao said.

Then the market rallied just after noon, as Chinese markets began to open higher buoyed by a new wave of confidence, he said.

Tuesday's local rise could be a combination of factors including a new wave of optimism, buying in a dip, or a dead cat bounce - the latter a very technical term for a temporary recovery in share prices after a huge fall.

The spreading coronavirus and the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia are still adding to disruption, Mr Tao said.

The rebound has helped energy stocks recover a little of what they lost on Monday when they plunged on Australian's worst trading day since the global financial crisis in 2008.

The energy index was up 3.84 per cent at noon as Woodside piled on 4.5 per cent to $22.51 while Santos added 2.86 per cent to $5.03 and Beach climbed 6.54 per cent to $1.42.

Mr Trump's stimulus news came after stocks on Wall Street plummeted so fast on what traders are now calling "Black Monday" they triggered the first automatic halt in trading in more than two decades.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was also talking stimulus on Tuesday saying coping with the crisis, which has sparked panic buying and fights over toilet paper in supermarkets, w ill be a "team Australian moment".

Mr Morrison said an Australian stimulus package - that will be timely, proportionate and lift productivity - will be delivered this week.

He expects the market to respond in a less volatile way when more data is available, pointing out coronavirus had a lower death rate than other illnesses such as SARS.

Finance minister Mathias Cormann told Sky News people should focus on the fundamentals of the economy.

"There's no question that there will be a recovery after we have gone through what unquestionably is going to be a very challenging period.

"And on the other side there will be a great opportunity for Australians to get ahead.

The big banks were all slightly lower at noon, with CBA down 18 cents at $68.97 per cent, NAB 20.5 cents down at $19.935, ANZ dropping 15 cents to $20.12 and Westpac losing one cent to $19.51.

Giant miners were mixed, BHP Group was 13 cents higher at 27.68, while Rio Tinto was down 2 1 cents at $18.56 at midday

Global markets entered panic mode overnight as an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia compounded coronavirus woes. The Australian Securities Exchange doesn't have a circuit breaker trigger like the one that temporarily halted trade in the US on Monday.

Instead it has "anomalous order thresholds", which prevent aggressive bids for a stock outside a range of about 10 per cent of its price at any one moment.

ASX believes it promotes orderliness by striking a balance between restricting large and sudden price movements while allowing natural market forces to guide trading.

"We have observed in other markets that circuit breakers - where the market is paused - can exacerbate volatility either side of the trading pause," a spokesman said.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission introduced short selling bans in 2008 during the global financial crisis to help maintain an orderly market but is not proposing that measure at this point.

The Aussie dollar was buying 65.66 US cents at 1300 AEDT on Tuesday, up from 65.46 US cents at the market close on Monday.

AAP