Friday, August 3, 2012

Global stocks rally on data, banks

Wall Street rallied to its highest level since early May on Friday on a stronger-than-expected US jobs report and renewed hope European authorities would act to contain the euro zone debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 217.29 points, or 1.69 percent, to 13,096.17. The S&P 500 jumped 25.99 points, or 1.90 percent, to 1,390.99. The Nasdaq Composite added 58.13 points, or 2 percent, to 2,967.90.

European shares rose to their highest level in four months, led by gains in bank stocks, as investors said the European Central Bank's pledge to tackle the region's debt crisis had bought the area's troubled economies breathing space.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index ended up 2.5 percent at 1,081.37 points, its highest close since finishing at 1,085.04 points on April 2. It also posted its ninth weekly gain in a row, extending its longest run of weekly rises since mid-2005.

Japan's Nikkei average fell today after the ECB disappointed investors by offering no immediate action to prop up the euro, with wide quarterly losses from Sharp and Sony adding to the gloom.

Both Sharp Corp and Sony Corp plummeted to their lowest in more than three decades after posting heavy losses and cutting their full-year profit outlooks.

The Nikkei dropped 1.1 percent to 8,555.11, breaking below 8,581.97, the 61.8 percent retracement of its rally from June 4 to July 4.

The broader Topix index lost 1.2 percent to 723.94, and is now 0.6 percent down on the year.