Banks lead Wall St higher
The Dow Jones rose 55.25 points, or 0.52%, to 10,682.13, the S&P 500 gained 9.53 points, or 0.84%, to 1,145.73 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ added 25.59 points, or 1.12%, to 2,307.90.
The banking sector was strong, with nearly every stock in the sector gaining ground.
Retail banks Bank of America and Wells Fargo added 1.6% and 1.8%.
Investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs tacked on 0.4% and 0.7% respectively.
Citigroup bucked the trend, losing 0.6%.
Kraft lost 0.2% as the saga concerning its hostile takeover of Cadbury continued.
Meanwhile, Hershey fell 3% as reports surfaced suggesting it is preparing to make a lone bid for Cadbury.
Microsoft added 0.9%, while Apple put on 1.4% with less than two weeks to go until the company is rumoured to be releasing a tablet-style laptop.
Google bucked the trend, losing 0.6%. The search engine behemoth drew both praise and criticism for its threat to withdraw from China on censorship and hacking concerns.
Smaller rival Yahoo! benefited, climbing 1.3%.
Pharmaceutical stocks were buoyed by a general upgrade to the sector from Credit Suisse. Merck tacked on 4%.
Oil and commodity stocks lost ground as the price of NYMEX light crude oil for February delivery fell US$1.06 to US$79.73 a barrel.
Exxon Mobil lost 0.4%, while Chevron eased 0.8% lower.
Meanwhile, bargain hunters moved in on Alcoa, which jumped 3%. The stock retreated over 11% yesterday.
COMEX gold for February delivery rose US$7.80 to US$1,137.20 an ounce.
European Markets
German stocks rose despite the economy in that country contracting 5% last year as exports slumped, while it was a mixed day in other European markets. Banking stocks retreated as French heavyweight Societe Generale disappointed investors with its earnings results.
The UK benchmark FTSE 100 retreated 25.23 points, or 0.46% to 5,473.48. The German DAX put on 20.14, or 0.34% to 5,963.14. The French CAC40 added just 0.81 points, or 0.02% to 4,000.86.
English banks Barclays and HSBC retreated 0.9% and 1.5%.
In France, Societe Generale slumped 2.9% after saying it had incurred US$2 billion in writedowns, though would still post a slight profit for the last quarter.
BNP Paribas lost 0.7%, while Swiss giant UBS gave up 1.4%.
The traditionally defensive pharmaceutical stocks rose on the back of bullish comments from investment bank Credit Suisse.
Novartis, AstraZeneca and Roche added 1.2%, 1.1% and 0.6% respectively.
Aussie miner BHP Billiton lost 0.7%, with Rio Tinto off around 0.5%.
Energy stocks paced a decline in the price of crude oil. BP and Total lost 1.1% each, while Shell declined 1.8%.
Japanese Market
The Japanese stock exchange slumped as the yen strengthened, hurting exporters in the export sensitive economy. Commodity prices weakening and tighther lending restrictions in China also combined to weigh on the market.
The Nikkei 225 shed 144.11, or 1.32% to 10,735.03.
Among the banks, Mitsubishi UFJ slumped 1.8%, while Sumitomo Mitsui sank 2.4%.
The dominant stock on the exchange was Japan Airlines for the second day in a row. The airline lost 81% with over 820 million shares sold – a record for the Tokyo stock exchange.
Among the exporters, Canon lost 2.7%, however this was countered by 2.8% rise from Sony.
Panasonic advanced 0.8%.
Heavy machinery maker Komatsu slumped 2.9% on the concern of slowing sales in China.
Commodity trading house Mitsubishi Corp retreated 3.6%.
Meanwhile, oil exploration company Inpex gave up 2.1%.
Steel markers Nippon Steel and Kobe Steel closed down 3.3% and 2.2% respectively.
Hong Kong Markets
Hong Kong stocks had their largest single session fall in more than six weeks due to the country’s surprise decision to increase banks’ reserve ratio. Investors are concerned that the decision could cool growth.
The Hang Seng dropped 578.04, or 2.59% to 21,748.60.
Heavyweight banks ICBC and China Construction Bank fell 3.6% and 3.9% to close at three-month lows.
Bank of China weakened 3.6% to a three-week low, while China Citic Bank slumped 6.6%.
Aluminium Corp of China added to the previous day’s losses by shedding 7%.
China Overseas Land & Investment and Hang Lung Properties lost 4.7% and 4.1%.
Tencent rose 1.4% on the belief inflation will help drive revenue and profit for companies such as China’s largest internet provider.
China Shineway Pharmaceutical Group sank 12% after the company revealed major shareholder Matkon was set to sell its 13.5% stake in the Chinese medicine manufacturer.
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