Dow rises, heads for 11% gain in 2010

Blue chip shares and the broader Wall Street market moved higher in thin trading during the second session after Christmas. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, led by gains in Chevron and Hewlett-Packard, was up 20.51 points, or 0.2%, to 11,575.54 at the close (10am NZ time) – an 11% year-to-date gain with three sessions left.

Chevron rose 1.2% after a county official in California said that a company refinery there was operating. Earlier, the plant was said to have been shut down. Hewlett-Packard rose 1% after it said that it was awarded a 10-year contract for up to $US2.5 billion to supply personal computers, accessories and support services to space agency Nasa.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%, to 2662.88 while the S&P 500 index rose 0.1% to 1258.51, led by its energy sector. Chesapeake Energy gained 1.1%, while Murphy Oil added 1% and Southwestern Energy rose 1% as blizzard conditions boosted demand.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia mixed
European stock markets were unable to hang on to gains earlier in the day. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2% to 279.8 after losing 0.8% on Monday, the biggest one-day point and percentage loss since late November.

The French CAC 40 index was flat at 3858.7, while the German DAX 30 index, which suffered its lowest close on Monday since December 20, finished near neutral at 6972.1.

Asian stock indexes ended mixed, with Chinese shares led down by property and financial stocks. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.7% to 2732.99, adding to the previous session’s 1.9% slide, to end at its lowest closing level in nearly three months.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.6% and Korea’s Kospi Composite was 0.6% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9% to 22,621.73 in its first trading session after the extended weekend break.

Taiwan’s main index lost 0.2% and India’s Sensex was little changed at 20,025.42.

Commodities: Oil, gold up
Oil futures prices finished higher with the light, sweet contract for February rising 49USc to $US91.49 a barrel in New York.

Gold rallied above $US1400 an ounce on thin volume. The December contract settled $US22.80, or 1.7%, higher at $US1405.20 an ounce in New York, the highest settlement price since December 7, and just 0.7% off the record close of December 6.

Currencies: Yen up
The yen advanced, hitting multiweek highs, as encouraging industrial production data from Japan and year-end positioning helped increase demand.

The euro was at ¥108.17 from ¥109.02 late on Monday. The US dollar was at ¥82.45, down from ¥82.86.

Against the broadly stronger yen, the UK pound fell to its lowest level since February 2009 at ¥126.36 from ¥127.67.