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The futures are suggesting a small bounce of 0.87% or 39 points (currently up 1.7%) for the Aussie share market, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread.

We saw tens of thousands of out-of-work Australians try to claim unemployment benefits, causing lines hundreds of metres long at physical Centrelink locations and for the MyGov website to crash.

ASX-listed medical equipment maker, ResMed (ASX:RMD) have said they are looking to “double or triple” its output of ventilators, and scale up ventilation mask production more than tenfold, as the world scrambles to fight coronavirus. Nick Scali (ASX:NCK) and baby furniture and equipment chain Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN) have reported positive sales momentum to date and a pickup in activity by Chinese suppliers. On the flipside, jewellery retailer Michael Hill (ASX:MHJ) has decided to postpone its 1.5 cents per share interim dividend for six months.

The Aussie dollar buys 57 US cents.