NEW YORK: World stocks rebounded from earlier losses yesterday, led by an advance in Wall Street, as upbeat US housing and durable goods data fueled hopes the economic downturn in the United States may be moderating.
In early afternoon trading, stock indexes were higher in Wall Street, led by gains in homebuilders and industrial conglomerates. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were up more than 1 percent.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.4 percent to a provisional close of 743.57 points.
Oil prices also retraced early losses yesterday, rising to around $54 a barrel and shrugging data from the Energy Information Administration that showed US weekly crude stocks rose last week to their highest since 1993.
US light crude for May delivery was last up 10 cents at $54.08 a barrel, after earlier falling by as much as $2.12.
The US dollar slid against the euro in volatile trading after US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner expressed openness to expanded use of an IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currency basket even though he added that the greenback would remain the world’s reserve currency for a long time.
The euro was last 0.5 percent higher at $1.3548. Against the yen, the dollar down 0.15 percent at 97.77 yen.
Most Gulf Arab markets fell yesterday. The main index in Dubai fell 1.93 percent to 1,591 points, snapping five days of gains.
The Abu Dhabi index ended 0.11 percent higher at 2,536 points. The Doha benchmark fell 1.81 percent to 5,149 points.
The Muscat index ended down 0.2 percent at 4,821 points, closing lower for the first time in six sessions.
Kuwait’s stock index declined 0.69 percent to 6,712 points.
In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All-Share index (TASI) ended up 1.28 percent at 4,642.99 points, extending gains into a sixth trading day.
Bahrain’s main index inched 0.08 percent lower at 1,597 points.
