Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Global stocks gain on Alcoa outlook

Stocks climbed to a five-month high on Tuesday, led by materials stocks after an upbeat forecast by aluminum company Alcoa Inc and strong gains by bank shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 68.65 points, or 0.55 percent, at 12,461.34. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 11.26 points, or 0.88 percent, at 1,291.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 25.45 points, or 0.95 percent, at 2,702.01.

European shares hit a one-week closing high as encouraging comments from some leading US companies and hopes for more policy easing in China gave cyclical stocks a boost, with autos and miners among the top sectoral gainers.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares finished 1.8 percent stronger at 1,027.23 points, the highest close since January 3. The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index rose 2.7 percent to 2,347.47 points.

The Nikkei share average edged up today after revenue at US aluminium giant Alcoa beat expectations, while Olympus jumped 20% on reports it would remain listed, but the benchmark remained stuck below key resistance ahead of events in Europe.

The Nikkei gained 0.4% to 8,422.26, its first rise in three sessions, but remained below its 25-day moving average around 8,500.The benchmark has largely kept to a narrow range of 8,350 to 8,500 since mid-December, but market particpants said steady performance of bluechips on Tokyo's Core 30 list.