Stocks on Wall Street rose, boosted by a jump in sales of existing US homes and a weekend pledge by global finance ministers that calmed fears of a currency war.

Residential sales rose a more than expected 10% to an annual rate of 4.53 million in September.

In Korea at the weekend, Group of 20 finance ministers vowed to avoid "competitive devaluation" of their currencies while curbing their external imbalances.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 31.49 points, or 0.3%, higher at 11,164.05, extending three straight weeks of gains.

The Pittsburgh G20 summit has pretty much turned out as the American hosts intended: with a pledge by the leaders of the world’s biggest economies to rethink their economic policies, boost bank capital to avoid future financial crises, and even kickstart the stalled Doha Trade Round.

On the economic front, the aim is to reduce the immense imbalances between export-dominated countries such as China and Japan, whose trade reserves have funded the large US deficit caused by excessive consumption and borrowing.

Despite French posturing and the traditional globalisation protests, world leaders in London have pushed out a regulatory blueprint that is clean, clear and, more importantly, wide reaching.

As the worldwide meltdown exposes the excesses of the world's financial markets, the world's governments pledged more than $US1 trillion in emergency aid to the IMF and other agencies to cushion the economic fallout, in both first and third world counties.

(9.30am market close) Stocks have rallied on Wall Street and in Europe as world leaders at the G20 summit in London agreed on measures to fight the global recession.

These called for stricter limits on hedge funds, executive pay, credit-rating companies and risk-taking by banks. The summit also committed more than $US1 trillion to boost the resources of the International Monetary Fund and provide emergency cash to help distressed countries.