Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Wall Street edges up after sell-off; Europe in focus

US stocks advanced modestly today with investors exercising caution as a Spanish bill auction met with falling demand ahead of a summit by EU leaders later in the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 32.47 points, or 0.26 percent, to 12,535.13. The S&P 500 Index gained 6.32 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,320.04. The Nasdaq Composite rose 17.90 points, or 0.63 percent, to 2,854.06.

European shares snapped a three-day losing streak to rise, helped by gains at heavyweight utility stocks, though traders and investors said any rally would be short-lived due to lingering worries over Europe's debt crisis.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.2 percent to 988.03 points, recovering slightly after suffering its biggest one-day fall in more than three weeks yesterday.

Japan's Nikkei share average fell to its lowest close in a week on growing concerns this week's summit of European leaders will fail to make any significant progress in tackling the region's debt crisis.

The Nikkei closed 0.8 percent lower at 8,663.99, holding below 8,714.78, the 23.6 percent retracement of its fall from March 27 to June 4. The broader Topix's earnings momentum worsened to minus 2.3 percent from 0.1 percent last month. The Topix was down 0.9 percent at 738.89.