Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on Dec. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

US stocks are set to continue rallying in post-Christmas trading, buoyed by Asia-Pacific market sentiment largely flopping back to risk-on. Good news from the China market, in particular, will serve as a booster for US stocks that have increasingly pinned hopes for an improving relationship between the world's top two economies.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region closed up Thursday, warming up investor sentiment elsewhere, which is still on Christmas holidays.

Encouragingly, all three major stock indices in the Chinese mainland market finished up Thursday, with the flagship Shanghai Composite Index ending the day above the psychologically critical resistance mark of 3,000 points.

The bullish sentiment adds to the latest Chinese customs data that points to a surge of imports of US soybeans. China imported 2.56 million tons of US soybeans in November, more than double the reading for the previous month - 1.147 million. The nation resumed purchase of US imports after the two sides agreed to a trade war truce in December.

The odds are pretty high that the three main US indices will hit fresh highs on Thursday, notably the tech-heavy NASDAQ which hit a record closing high on Tuesday.