Weekend markets: Share rally continues

One of the year’s strongest stock rallies ended the week with Wall Street’s main benchmarks back in positive territory for the year.

Stocks were helped by strong US retail-sales data for September and further signs of progress in Europe's sovereign-debt crisis.

A weekend meeting of finance officials from the world's 20 leading economies will focus on the issue and helping to offset Standard & Poor's downgrade of Spain and Fitch Ratings' negative outlook on several banks.

Google jumped 5.9% after reporting third-quarter earnings that beat expectations by a wide margin.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 166.36 points, or 1.5%, to 11,644.49, up 4.9% foppr the week. The Dow has risen 12% in the past two weeks and is up 0.6% for the year.

The S&P 500 index was up 1.7%, to 1224.58, with energy, material and technology stocks in the lead.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.8% to 2667.85 and is up 7.6% for the week, its biggest weekly gain since March 2009.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia mixed
European markets ended higher, led by gains for miners, technology stocks and car makers.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.8% to 238.51 and ended the week up 2.8%, marking three straight weeks of gains.

The German DAX 30 index rose 0.9% to 5967.20, up 5.1% for the week. The French CAC 40 index rose 1% to 3217.89, a 4% gain for the week.

The Uk’s FTSE 100 index rose 1.2% to 5466.36, giving it a 3.1% weekly gain.

Asian markets ended mixed with Hong Kong and China shares declining despite the mainland's September consumer-price index coming in slightly lower than expected.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.4% to 18,501.79 and China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.3% to 2431.37.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.9% to 8747.96. and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.9% to 4205.6.

But Korea's Kospi added 0.7% to 1835.40, Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.4% to 2744.17 and India's Sensex rose 1.2% to 17082.69.

Commodities: Oil, gold surge
Crude prices surged 3.1% on hopes that an improving economic climate in the US and abroad will increase demand.

Light, sweet crude oil for November delivery settled $US2.57 higher, to $US86.80 a barrel in New York. That is the highest settlement price since September 20.

Brent crude for November on the ICE gained $US3.57, or 3.2%, to settle at $US114.68.

Gold futures ended higher as gains in other markets and the G20 meeting buoyed prices.

The contract for October delivery rose $US14.50, or 0.9%, to settle at $US1681.80 an ounce in New York.

The was a 2.9% for the week and the second consecutive weekly gain after a three-week losing streak in September.

Currencies: Yen falls on intervention moves
The yen fell against the US dollar as Japanese government officials said they were poised to take fresh steps against a strong yen as early as next week.

Meanwhile, the euro was boosted to a four-week high against the dollar as hopes the euro-zone crisis is closer to resolution.

The Japanese measures could include an increase in funds for encouraging Japanese firms to take advantage of the strong yen to acquire overseas businesses and natural resources.

The dollar was at ¥77.23, after hitting ¥77.45, compared with ¥76.90 late on Thursday.

The euro traded at $US1.3883 from $US1.3777 and at ¥107.21 from ¥105.96.

The UK pound changed hands at $US1.5811 from $US1.5767. The dollar bought 0.8924 Swiss franc from 0.8982 franc.