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US markets up, European indices mixed

12 October 2009 07:30 (UTC +04:00)

Baku- APA-Economics. Wall Street rallied Friday, sending both the Dow and S&P 500 to new one-year highs. The US dollar was lifted following comments from Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke regarding a likely rise in interest rates as the recovery gains momentum.

In economic news, a government report revealed the US deficit surprisingly dropped to $30.7 billion in August following a rise in exports and an unexpected dip in imports. Forecasts were for an increase to $33 billion after reaching a revised $31.9 billion in July.

The Dow Jones added 78.07 points, or 0.80% to 9,864.94, the S&P 500 put on 6.01 points, or 0.56% to 1,071.49 and the NASDAQ gained 15.35 points, or 0.72% to 2,139.28.

JPMorgan and Bank of America led the financials higher with gains of 1.2% and 1%. Citigroup shed 0.4% after announcing it would sell its Phibro commodities trading business, while the remainder of the major banks were closed less than 1% above the gain line.

It was a mixed day for the tech sector. Search engine Yahoo! sank 4%, while Microsoft weakened 0.3%.

At the other end of the spectrum Google and Hewlett-Packard put on 0.4% and 2% as IBM rallied 3% on the back of a broker upgrade.

Diversified media company News Corp added 1%.

Energy stocks were mainly higher as NYMEX light crude oil for November delivery rose US8c to settle at US$71.77 a barrel. Chevron advanced 1.8%, while Exxon Mobil gained 0.3%.

ConocoPhillips bucked the trend with a 1.2% fall.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell US$7.70 to settle at US$1,048.60 an ounce. Newmont Mining lost 1.1%.

A mixed day resulted in European markets closing relatively flat. Miners were the major drag.

The UK benchmark FTSE 100 added 7.23 or 0.14% to 5,161.87. The French CAC40 slipped 7.20, or 0.19% to 3,799.61, while the German DAX shed 4.66, or 0.08% to 5,711.88.