Wall Street surges on euro-zone moves

Stocks on Wall Street soared the most in six weeks as investors cheered the latest signs of progress to resolve the euro zone's banking and sovereign-debt troubles.

German and French leaders aim to recapitalise the banking sector where necessary and strengthen the euro zone's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.

At the close (9am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 330.06 points, or 3.0%, to 11,433.18. All 30 Dow components rose, with Bank of America gaining 6.4% and JP Morgan Chase 5.2%.

Alcoa, which is due to kick off the third quarter reporting season at the end of the Tuesday session (US time), rose 3.9%. The Dow made a 190-point gain last week.

The S&P 500 index surged 3.4%, to 1194.89, up more than 11% since its recent low onTuesday last week. Each of the index's 10 sectors traded in positive territory, with energy, financial and material stocks posting the biggest gains.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 3.5% to 2566.05.

Other markets: Europe, Asia rise
European stock markets advanced higher on hopes of a bailout package for Greece and moves to limit the fallout in the banking sector.

However, details of the plan were sparse, suggesting France and Germany are still divided over the specifics.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index end up 1.7% at 235.94. The UK's FTSE 100 index closed up 1.8% at 5399.00, while France's CAC-40 index closed 2.1% higher at 3161.47 and Germany's DAX index closed up 3.0% at 5847.29.

Asian stock markets ended mostly higher, though China markets fell after a week off and losses for property and energy companies weighed on Hong Kong.

The Hang Seng Index ended nearly unchanged after a final-hour rally, at 17,711.06, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.6% to 2344.79.

The Australian S&P/ASX 200 index ended with a 0.9% gain at 4201.0, extending a 3.9% advance made last week, while Korea's Kospi climbed 0.4% to 1766.44.

Indian shares closed sharply higher for a second straight session, buoyed by buying ahead of the new earnings season. The Sensex rose 2.0% to end at 16,557.23. It had gained 2.8% on Friday.

Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

Commodities: Oil, gold up
Oil futures advanced for their fourth consecutive session, topping $US85 a barrel.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery settled $US2.43, or 2.9%, higher at $US85.40 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe traded up $US3.07, or 2.9%, to $US108.95 a barrel.

Gold futures rallied, with investors showing strong appetite for commodities as the US dollar fell sharply against other major currencies.

Gold for December delivery settled $US35, or 2.1%, up at $US1670.80 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: Euro surges
The euro rose strongly in response to the latest round of talks about a plan to resolve the European debt crisis.

The euro rose to $US1.3654 from $US1.3377 late on Friday, and to ¥104.73 from ¥103.10.

The US dollar was at ¥76.73, compared with ¥76.77, while the UK pound was at $US1.5650, compared with $US1.5562.