Weekend markets: Wall St's best start in 15 years

Stocks on Wall Street have posted the best start to a new year in 15 years with a third week of successive gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher on all four days of a holiday-shortened week. It closed the Friday session on a high at 12,720.48, up 96.50 points or 0.8%.

A strong result from IBM powered blue-chip stocks to s six-month high. IBM rose 4.4% and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the Dow's gains after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

However, discouraging quarterly reports from other bellwethers kept the broader market flat.

Google fell 8.4% and was the S&P 500's biggest laggard after reporting fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of expectations.

The index turned positive in the final minutes, gaining less than a point to 1315.38. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1% to 2786.70. Each measure finished with a third straight weekly gain.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia up
European markets edged lower, snapping a four-session run of gains.
The Stoxx 600 fell 0.3% to close at 255.85, leaving it with a gain for the week of 2.7% and just off a five-month high.

The UK FTSE 100 eased 0.2% to 5728.55, the German DAX shed 0.2% to 6404.39 and the French CAC 40 also slipped 0.2% to 3321.50.

Asian stocks climbed with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.8% to 20,110.37, pushing the close above 20,000 for the first time since November 9 and making a 4.7% surge for the week.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 1.5% to 8766.36, its highest close since November 7.

China's Shanghai Composite added 1% to 2319.12, as it rose 3.3% for the week. Korea's Kospi gained 1.8% to 1949.89 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index added 0.6% to 4239.60.

The Indian Sensex added 0.6% to 16,739.01, its highest close in six weeks. The benchmark surged 3.6% over the week, its best weekly showing since early December.

Chinese markets will be closed all next week for the New Year holidays, while Hong Kong will close Monday through Wednesday. Taiwan's markets have been closed since Thursday and won't reopen until January 30.

Commodities: Oil down, gold up
Crude-oil futures slumped on a weaker euro.

Light, sweet crude for closing February contract settled $US1.93 lower at $US98.46 a barrel in New York. The more heavily traded March contract settled $US2.21, or 2.2%, lower at $US98.33 a barrel.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded $US1.57 lower at $US109.85 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery rose $US9.50, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1664 an ounce in New York. Prices added 2% for the week.

Currencies: US dollar falls
The US dollar declined against the euro for the week. The euro slipped to $US1.2935, after approaching $US1.30, from $US1.2969 late on Thursday.

The dollar was at ¥76.95 compared with ¥77.11. The UK pound rose to $US1.5554, from $US1.5489, while the dollar bought 0.9344 Swiss franc from 0.9320 franc.