Weekend markets: Dow ends 6-wk losing streak

Stocks on Wall Street ended a six-week losing streak as a debt deal looked sealed in Greece and the global economy improved.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42.84 points, or 0.4%, to 12,004.36. That left the blue-chip measure up 0.4% for the week, though it still is down 4.5% for June and is 6.3% off the three-year high of late April.

Weakness hit technology stocks with the Nasdaq Composite index falling 0.3%, to 2616.48. That left the tech-heavy measure down 1% for the week, the fifth straight decline. It is the longest streak since the six weeks ended July 11, 2008.

Friday's move was led by the 21% plunge in Research in Motion after the BlackBerry smartphone maker slashed its earnings outlook for the year and said it would trim its work force. Also weighing on the Nasdaq were large declines at Google and Apple, which fell 3.1% and 1.5%, respectively.

The S&P 500 index rose or 0.3%, to 1271.50, leaving it with a slim 0.52-point weekly advance to end its six-week losing streak.

Other markets: Europe higher, Asia lower
European stocks recovered losses as investors welcomed a further Greek bailout package. The Stoxx Europe 600 was flat at 266.78.

London's FTSE 100 index was flat at 5698.93, Frankfurt's DAX index was up 0.6% at 7153.63 and Paris' CAC-40 was 0.7% higher at 3817.37.

Asian share markets ended mostly lower. The Hang Seng Index lost 1.2% – extending a 1.8% fall on Thursday – to finish at 21695.26, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.8% to 2642.82.

The Nikkei Stock Average closed 0.6% lower at 9351.40, while Korea's Kospi fell 0.7% to 2031.93 and India's Sensex lost 0.6% to 17870.53.

However, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index managed to end the session up 0.1% at 4484.90.

Commodities: Oil drops, gold rises
Oil prices dropped 2% to four-month lows on concerns that the Greek debt crisis and sluggish US economic growth will damp fuel demand.

Light, sweet crude oil for July delivery settled $US1.94, or 2%, lower at $US93.01 a barrel, the lowest finish since February 18. This brought the week's losses to more than 6%.

Gold inched to a one-week high, boosted by a weaker dollar. The most actively traded contract, for August delivery, gained $US9.20, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1539.10 an ounce in New York.

Thinly traded June gold ended at $US1538.60 an ounce, up $US9.30 or 0.6%.

Currencies: Euro rises
Revived hopes for a resolution to Greece's debt crisis sent the euro higher. The euro was at $US1.4302 from $US1.4204 late on Thursday.

The dollar was at Y80.05 from Y80.63, while the euro was at Y114.51 from Y114.58. The UK pound was at $US1.6186 from $US1.6158. The dollar was at 0.8489 Swiss franc from 0.8476.