Rally puts Wall St stocks ahead for year

Stocks on Wall Street ended the month on a four-session winning streak that recovered all of the year’s losses.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 52.98 points, or 0.5%, to 11,612.93.

The S&P 500 index was up 0.5% to 1218.67, led by financial and utility stocks. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1%, to 2579.46.

AT&T was the biggest blue-chip decliner, and major indexes moved off session highs after the Justice Department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit that seeks to block AT&T's proposed $US39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA.

Other markets: Europe surges, Asia up
European stock markets ended August on a buoyant note amid hopes that the US Federal Reserve will take another shot at stoking the US economy.

But Deutsche Telekom slumped after US moves to block the proposed sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index jumped 2.9%, its third consecutive gain, to close at 237.43.

The German DAX 30 climbed 2.5% to 5784.85 and the UK's FTSE 100 index rose 2.4% to 5394.53. In Paris, the CAC 40 index rose 3.1% to 3256.76.

Asian markets closed out a poor month on an upbeat note. Korea's Kospi climbed 2% to 1880.11, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.6% to 20,534.85 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index traded up 0.6% at 4296.5. India's markets were closed for a holiday.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average and China's Shanghai Composite ended the day nearly unchanged, at 8955.20 and 2567.34, respectively.

Market losses for the month of August ranged from 2.9% for the Australian index to 11.9% for the Korean.

Commodities: Oil rises, gold recovers losses
Oil futures rose slightly after the US government reported a sharp drop in gasoline stockpiles last week.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery traded up 45USc, or 0.6%, to $US89.35 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe rose 85USc, or 0.7%, to $US114.87 a barrel.

Gold has recouped much of last week's losses with front-month futures were trading at $US1835.60 an ounce, up 0.5% following a 2.1% jump on Tuesday, but below the record-high settlement of $US1888.70 on August 22.

Currencies: Swiss franc strengthens
The Swiss franc surged by more than 2% against the US dollar and the euro as disappointment over a government economic package converged with growing frustration with the Swiss National Bank's lack of concrete measures to weaken the currency.

Since hitting its record highs in August, the franc had fallen by more than 10% against the dollar and euro as traders anticipated a new round of measures to cheapen the Swiss currency.

But the smaller-than-expected aid package and inaction by the SNB has pushed the franc back on to its appreciation path.

The dollar plunged as low as 0.7993 franc before recovering modestly, while the euro fell to 1.1545 franc.

The euro was trading at $US1.4375 compared with $US1.4442 late on Tuesday. The dollar was at ¥76.52 from ¥76.74, while the euro was at ¥109.99 from ¥110.84.

The UK pound was $US1.6269 from $US1.6301, while the dollar fetched 0.8031 franc from 0.8200 franc.