Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Global shares higher on hopes for stimulus measures, Fed meeting

Global stocks rose today on hopes that the Federal Reserve will agree to extend stimulus measures as the economy struggles to recover and the euro zone's debt crisis gets worse.

In Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 54.19 points, or 0.43 percent, at 12,796.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 6.20 points, or 0.46 percent, at 1,350.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14.11 points, or 0.49 percent, at 2,909.44.

In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 share index rose 0.75 percent to 1001.19 points.

In Asia, Nikkei share average retreated from the previous day's four-week high as the initially positive reception for Greece's election result was chilled by concerns about Spain's banking sector.

The Nikkei fell 0.8 percent to 8,655.87 after rallying 1.8 percent yesterday to hit its highest close since May 22. The broader Topix index fell 0.6 percent to 734.69 in low volume, with the number of shares trading hands at just 69.2 percent of its 90-day average.