Apple shares plunge but Wall Street rises

Stocks on Wall Street rose as materials and industrial companies gained from an increase in New York manufacturing activity.

Apple shares (NAS: AAPL) plunged 7% on Steve Jobs’ latest, open-ended medical leave announcement (the fall is relative; the company's stock has risen 40% over the past six months), while bank stocks weakened after disappointing earnings from Citigroup.

At the close (10am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 50.55 points, or 0.4%, to 11,837.93 with Caterpillar and Boeing making up more than half of the measure's climb.

Boeing rose 3.1% after saying it expects to deliver its first 787 Dreamliner in the third quarter. Caterpillar climbed 2.8%, while Alcoa rose 1.7%.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4% at 2765.85 despite Apple's drop, which erased $US20 billion in market value.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.1% to 1295.02 with industrials gaining after a US Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey of regional manufacturing activity showed an improvement in January.

Other markets: Europe, Asia up
European stocks rose steadily, helped by strong trading updates from European blue chips and a firm German ZEW survey that confirmed the strength of the euro-zone's largest economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was 0.9% higher at 286.56. London's FTSE 100 was up 1.1% at 6053.22, Frankfurt's DAX was up 1.0% at 7146.09 and Paris's CAC-40 was 0.8% higher at 4008.12.

Most Asian markets ended higher, with a strong outlook for nonferrous and precious metals driving several stocks.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.2% to 10,518.98, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.8% to 4801.81, Korea's Kospi slipped 0.2% to 2096.48 and Taiwan's Taiex advanced 0.7% to 8988.00.

India's Sensex ended up 1.1% 19,092.05 while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index finished little changed at 24,153.98.

China's Shanghai Composite, which tumbled 3% in the previous session and traded lower for most of Tuesday on the central bank's move on Friday to tighten banks' reserve requirements, ended 0.1% higher at 2708.98.

Commodities: Oil down, gold up
Crude futures traded lower after the restart of the Transalaskan pipeline supplying the US West Coast.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery recently traded 90USc, or 1%, lower at $US90.64 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 76USc lower at $US96.67 a barrel.

Gold futures rose as bargain buying and speculation about a boost to physical demand lifted a market that had recently fallen to seven-week lows.

The most actively traded gold contract, for February delivery, recently traded $US9 higher, or 0.7%, at $US1,369.50 an ounce in New York.

After settling at a record high above $US1,422 an ounce January 3, gold prices have been retreating due to growing optimism about the economic recovery reduced demand.

Currencies: Euro up, dollar steady
The euro rose swiftly to its highest level in a month against the dollar on optimism that euro-zone officials may soon take measures to contain the region's debt crisis.

The euro briefly slipped after euro-zone governments put off a decision on a European Financial Stability Facility expansion at least until European Union leaders meet on February 4. But the euro quickly regained poise and soon traded up to session highs of $US1.3467 and ¥111.06 in New York trade.

The euro was recently trading at $US1.3442 against the dollar, compared with $US1.3284 late on Monday. The dollar was little changed at ¥82.69 from ¥82.71.