Wall Street rises for third day

Stocks on Wall Street rose a third successive rise on more positive signals for the US economy.

Leading the data was another decrease in new jobless claims, the third drop in a row. The decline carried claims to the lowest since the week ending April 19, 2008.

The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators showed the seventh straight monthly advance while a consumer-sentiment index showed an improvement at the end of December compared with earlier this month.

However, the Commerce Department revised its estimate of third-quarter economic growth to an annualised 1.8%, below economists' forecast of 2%.

At the close (10am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 62.90 points, or 0.5%, to 12,170.64, building on a 341-point advance in the past two days.

The S&P 500 index was up 0.8% to 1254.07 and the Nasdaq Composite was also up 0.8% at 2599.45. Financial stocks were the strongest gainers.

Oracle, which led a selloff in tech stocks on Wednesday, lost another 0.4% after delivering a rare earnings miss for the quarter ending in November.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
The European Central Bank's higher than expected allotment cheap loans to hundreds of banks, in a bid to head off a credit crisis, helped boost markets, as did the Italian senate’s backing of Prime Minister Mario Monti's austerity package.

The Stoxx Europe 600 finished 1.1% higher to end at 239.78, making up for Wednesday's 0.5% decline.

The French CAC 40 index gained 1.3% to 3071.80, the German DAX 30 index added 1% to 5852.18 and the FTSE 100 index rose 1.3% to 5456.97 in the last full trading day for London markets before the Christmas break.

Asian exchanges lost ground. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 1.2% to 4090.80, its third loss in four sessions.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed 0.8% lower at 8395.16 as investors headed into a three-day weekend.

India's Sensex rose 0.8% to 15,813.36, driven in part by hopes that the country's central bank will focus more on stimulating growth as inflation eases further.

Other markets were little changed. China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.2% to 2186.30, its fourth consecutive loss, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.2% to 18378.23. Markets in Korea and Taiwan fell fractionally.

Commodities: Oil hits $US100, gold above $US1600
Oil futures settled 0.9% higher at more than $US99 a barrel in New York. Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose as high as $US100.05 a barrel before settling up 86USc, or 0.9%, at $US99.53 a barrel, its fourth session of gains.

Gold prices closed lower, extending the previous session’s decline.

February futures fell $US3, or 0.2%, to settle at $US1610.60 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: US dollar slips
The US dollar flipped back to negative territory in New York trading as investors moved to riskier assets.

The euro turned up to $US1.3061, from as low as $US1.3015 and $US1.3049 in late on Wednesday.

The UK pound traded at $US1.5677, little changed from $US1.5679. The Australian dollar appreciated to $US1.0130 from $US1.008.

The Japanese yen turned down slightly, with the dollar buying ¥78.13, up from ¥78.10.