Wall Street rises for fourth session

Stocks on Wall Street surged in the final hour of trading, rising for the fourth session as weaker readings on US home prices, regional manufacturing and consumer confidence were outweighed by strong rallies in Europe and Asia.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 cities fell 3.6% in March, compared with a year earlier, while manufacturing activity in the Chicago area fell unexpectedly to its lowest level since November 2009.

A similar survey of manufacturing by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas was also sharply lower than expected. Consumer confidence also registered a surprise decline.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 128.21 points, or 1.0%, to 12,529.79, while the S&P 500 index was up 1.1% to 1345.20 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.4% to 2835.30.

All but one of the 30 Dow components and all 10 sectors in the S&P 500 were in positive territory. Tech and healthcare stocks led the gains, with Pfizer gaining 1.4%, Merck adding 0.9% and Cisco Systems up 1.5%.

However, as May ends, the Dow is 2.4% lower for the month.

Other markets: Europe, Asia advance
European shares rose sharply as investors were cheered by reports Greece was ready to accept further austerity measures in order to secure its next tranche of funding from the IMF and the EU.

the Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.8% at 281.06. The UK’s FTSE 100 added 0.9% to 5989.99, the DAX in Germany gained 1.9% to 7293.69, with BASF jumping 3.8% as the chemicals sector had a strong showing, and the CAC-40 in Paris increased 1.6% to 4006.94.

Asian stock markets rallied, with Tokyo shares jumping on optimism about the country's industrial output, while stocks in Shanghai emerged from an eight-session losing streak on bargain buying across several sectors.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished 2% higher at 9,693.73 after industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 1% in April.

The Shanghai Composite rose 1.4% to 2743.47, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 2.2% to 23,684.13 and Korea's Kospi added 2.3% to 2142.47.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.9% to 4708.30, Taiwan's Taiex edged up 1.9% to 8988.84 and India's Sensex rose 1.5% to 18,503.28.

Commodities: Oil rises, gold falls
Oil futures advanced as the US dollar slid against the euro and as TransCanada shut down a pipeline network serving a US oil hub.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery gained $US1.54, or 1.5%, to $US102.13 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange added $US1.80, or 1.6%, to $US116.48 a barrel.

Gold futures fell with contract for June delivery was down 60USc at $US1535.70 an ounce.

Currencies: Euro pushes US dollar lower
The euro was higher across the board as fears over Greece’s debt load eased.

The US dollar slipped against the yen after weaker-than-expected consumer-confidence and manufacturing data added to concerns that the economy remains fragile.

The euro traded at $US1.4385, compared with $US1.4283 late on Monday, but down from $US1.4424 earlier. The dollar was at ¥81.29, compared with ¥81.48 just before the consumer-confidence data was released, and ¥80.93 late on Monday.

The UK pound was trading at $US1.6473, compared with $US1.6471.