US stocks resume rise

Wall Street stocks rose yesterday on hopes steady US growth will extend their stellar run, while the strengthening dollar curbed the appetite for oil and gold.

Investors resumed purchases of stocks and other higher-return assets, reducing their holdings of safe-haven US and German government bonds.

The rise in global interest rates was mitigated by a weaker-than-expected report on German investor sentiment due to the poor outlook on the region’s economy.

While worries about another spring “swoon” might have receded before the strong April US payrolls data, the outlook on worldwide economic growth remained lukewarm.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 82.06 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 15,173.74. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 14.05 points, or 0.86 per cent, at 1,647.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 26.00 points, or 0.76 per cent, at 3,464.79.

Europe’s top shares on the FTSEurofirst 300 were up 0.36 per cent at 1,235.49, erasing early losses on the disappointing data from Germany’s ZEW think tank report.

As the Dow and S&P 500 index posted record intraday peaks, the dollar held steady versus a basket of major currencies, hovering near a five-week high.

The greenback retested its four-and-a-half-year high against the yen and last traded at 102.05 yen, up 0.2 per cent on the day.

Brent crude oil edged down towards $102 per barrel as traders were caught between hopes of a revival in global economic growth and evidence of ample supply stocks from the West’s energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency.

Spot gold prices were up 0.2 per cent at 1,432.86 an ounce.