Strong US house sales data pushed industrial stocks higher on Wall Street, while declines in the energy and health-care sectors failed to stop a broad surge.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 102,94 points, or 1.0%, to hit a fresh 17-month high of 10,8
Strong US house sales data pushed industrial stocks higher on Wall Street, while declines in the energy and health-care sectors failed to stop a broad surge.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 102,94 points, or 1.0%, to hit a fresh 17-month high of 10,888.83.
Home resales in February fell 0.6%, to a 5.02 million annual rate from an unadjusted 5.05 million in January, boosting hopes the economic recovery is taking hold. Economists had expected sales last month to decrease 2.0%, to a rate of 4.95 million.
Caterpillar was the Dow's best performer, up 4.1%, while General Electric climbed 1.4%. However, Exxon Mobil fell 0.6% and Chevron slipped 0.2% as oil futures bounced in and out of the red.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8% to 2415.24. The S&P 500 index rose 0.7% to 1174.17, led by the industrial and materials sectors.
Healthcare stocks fell as the sector corrected a bit from its Monday surge on the late-Sunday passage of historic reforms by the House of Representatives. President Barack Obama has since signed the $US940 billion overhaul bill into law.
Other markets
European stocks edged higher as investors remained cautious ahead of the UK budget on Wednesday and the European Union summit later this week.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.4% at 261.1. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.5% to 5670.0, Frankfurt's DAX added 0.1% to 5996.3, and the CAC-40 index in Paris was 0.4% higher at 3943.1.
Asian markets ended mixed as an overnight rebound on Wall Street and a rise in crude oil prices helped support energy sector stocks.
Japanese exporters lost ground as the yen strengthened against the euro. Mazda shed 1.6%, Canon gave up 0.7% and Nikon lost 1.9%.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies fell 0.5% 10,774.15, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.9% to 4874.75 and Korea's Kospi added 0.6% to 1681.82.
China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.7% to 3053.13, Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.3% to 7811.87 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% to 20,987.78.
India's Sensex rose 0.2% to 17,451.02, while Singapore's Straits Times Index edged 0.55% higher to 2905.66.
Commodities: Oil, gold up
Oil futures are moving higher as the dollar pared some of its earlier gains and equities rose.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery added 31USc, or 0.4%, higher to settle at $US81.91 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 43USc, or 0.5%, higher at $US80.97 a barrel.
Gold futures rose for the first time in three sessions as the euro was again bogged down by the debate over Greece and its debt problems.
The most-active April gold contract settled $US4.20, or 0.4%, up at $US1103.70 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Euro down, dollar up
The euro sank to an all-time low against the Swiss franc and slumped against the US dollar as concerns mounted over Greece's debt problems.
The euro fell as low as 1.4262 Swiss francs and lost as much 0.6% against the dollar, hovering around the $1.35 level.
In late trading, the euro was at 1.4276 Swiss francs from 1.4338 francs at the end of Monday and at $US1.3496 from $US1.3552.
The dollar was at ¥90.40 from ¥90.00. The euro was at ¥122.02 from ¥122.19, while the UK pound was at $US1.5045, from $US1.5096.
The dollar was at 1.0577 Swiss francs, from 1.0585 francs.
