Tech and retail sectors boost US markets
Posted
Wall St: the Dow Jones industrial average closed 94 points higher at 12,993 (File photo) (AFP: AFP PHOTO Timothy A. CLARY)
The technology and retail sectors have underpinned solid gains late in the session on American equity markets.
Agreement in the US Senate on a housing rescue plan has also been mentioned as a positive influence on share markets.
But Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that US financial markets are still fragile.
Speaking in Chicago, he has called on banks to further raise capital, and improve their risk management policies.
And US industrial output figures for April have been weaker than expected.
On the corporate front, the CBS television group is to pay $1.8 billion dollars in cash for CNET Networks.
And the billionaire investor, Carl Icahn, is moving to overturn the board of Yahoo after it rejected a takeover offer from Microsoft.
On the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones industrial average has closed 94 points higher at 12,993.
The high-tech Nasdaq composite index has jumped 37 points to 2,534, a rally of 1.5 per cent.
The French and German markets have barely moved, but the British market has posted moderate gains.
London's FT-100 index has advanced 36 points to 6,252.
The Australian market yesterday managed further gains, despite some profit-taking in the resources sector.
Shares in BHP Billiton were trimmed back 58 cents to $47.98.
Leighton Holdings announced solid nine-month results, reaffirmed its full-year profit projections, and its shares jumped $2.10 to $52.81.
The All Ordinaries index rose 25 points to 5,965.
Looking at the overnight session on the Sydney Futures Exchange and the Share Price Index 200 contract has closed up 66 points at 5,975.
The ten-year bond contract is up four points at 93.71, with the implied yield easing to 6.29 per cent.
On foreign exchange markets, the Australian dollar has recovered ground overnight.
About 7:00am AEST the Australian dollar was buying 94.03 US cents, 0.6087 euros, 98.46 Japanese yen, 48.29 pence Sterling and $NZ1.231.
Gold was fetching $US881.75 an ounce.
The spot price of West Texas crude was up just four cents to $US124.25 a barrel.
