Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Wall Street closes flat as debt worries offset earns

US stocks closed near unchanged, a day after Wall Street's best rally since March, as the oncoming debt ceiling deadline overshadowed strong earnings from Apple Inc.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 15.51 points, or 0.12 percent, at 12,571.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 0.89 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,325.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 12.29 points, or 0.43 percent, at 2,814.23.

Banking stocks led Britain's top shares higher on Wednesday on strong corporate earnings and optimism over a deal in Washington to increase the US debt ceiling and avoid default.

The banking sector index enjoyed its biggest one-day percentage gain in more than three months, as Barclays bounced 5.2 percent to top the FTSE 100 leader board, while Lloyds Banking Group added 4.1 percent.

The benchmark Nikkei average closed up 1.2 percent at 10,005.90, jumping the most since June 29, while the broader Topix gained 0.8 percent to 860.66.

On July 8 the Nikkei rose to an intraday high of 10,207.91, not far from 10,254.43, a level last seen on March 11 when an earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and triggered a nuclear crisis.