NEW YORK: Global stocks rose on Friday, March 18'' as traders took on riskier investments following a Libya ceasefire that reduced tension in the region, and after several central banks intervened to stabilize the yen.
Trading capped a week of extreme volatility marked by Wall Street's fear gauge, the VIX, breaking through 31 for the first time since July. Stock market volumes surged on down days and fell on up days.
Oil fell from earlier highs after Libya declared a ceasefire in the country to protect civilians and comply with a United Nations resolution passed overnight. It had surged after the U.N. Security Council endorsed a no-fly zone for Libya, and authorized "all necessary measures" to protect civilians against Gaddafi's forces.
"That (Mideast unrest) quieting down and Japan quieting down will lead to buying," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.
Brent crude had jumped above $117 a barrel on worries of escalating unrest in oil-rich countries after the U.N. action to contain Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. Brent for May delivery shed 86 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $114.04 a barrel after the ceasefire. U.S. crude fell 35 cents to settle at $101.07 a barrel.
The dollar climbed 2.6 percent to 80.86 yen, retreating from a session high of around 82 yen, following the G7 announcement to intervene on the currency's sharp rise in recent days.
The show of solidarity by the G7 major developed economies to support Japan through its biggest crisis since World War Two comes a day after the yen soared to a record 76.25 per dollar in chaotic trading. It is the first coordinated currency intervention by the G7 in a decade.
The G7 "is just helping sentiment, and stocks sensitive to risk will push on. But optimism is going to be guarded as there are no firm resolutions surrounding the Japanese nuclear crisis and the Middle East, and anything can happen on the weekend," said Giles Watts, head of equities at City Index in London.
World shares as measured by MSCI advanced 0.6 percent. That gain helped the index erase some of its 5.6 percent drop over the past six trading days and brought the index near even for 2011.
WALL ST UP ON BANKS, NIKKEI'S REBOUND
On Wall Street, stocks held gains but pulled back from session highs due to caution before a long weekend in Japan, where markets will be closed on Monday for a holiday.
Friday also marked the end of the two-day quadruple witching period. Quadruple witching is the expiration and settlement of March stock-index futures, single-stock futuers, equity options and stock-index options.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 85.74 points, or 0.73 percent, to 11,860.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 5.38 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,279.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.57 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,644.62 -- well off its session high of 2,665.56.
Earlier, all three major U.S. stock indexes rose more than 1 percent to touch session highs. The Dow hit an intraday high at 11,927.09, while the S&P rose as high as 1,288.88.
Financial stocks rose after the Federal Reserve notified some of the largest U.S. banks that they passed a second round of stress tests. The central bank said it would let 19 of those banks use some of their massive capital cushions to buy back shares, repay the government and boost dividends.
JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co are among those planning dividend boosts. JPMorgan's stock gained 2.4 percent to $45.64, while Wells Fargo shares added 1.3 percent to $31.76.
Industrial shares also rose on bets they could benefit in Japan's rebuilding effort. General Electric Co rose 0.5 percent to $19.32, while Caterpillar advanced 1.9 percent to $105.07.
Before the U.S. trading open, European equities pared earlier gains after China's central bank raised lenders' required reserve ratios. The FTSEurofirst 300 added 0.2 percent to close at 1,088.82.
Japan's Nikkei share index climbed 2.7 percent, recouping some of the week's losses as Japan reeled from the aftermath of an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant crisis.
YEN AND BONDS SLIP, GOLD GAINS
The euro rose 3.5 percent to 114.56 yen, after climbing to a session high of 115.56 yen earlier. Some traders noted the scale of intervention was so far a tame effort to stem the yen's surge.
The euro rose to a four-month high against the dollar of about $1.4145 after the euro/yen intervention.
Some market observers said even massive official selling might not restrain the yen for long, pointing to Japan's last intervention in September 2010 when it sold a huge 2.1 trillion yen, or around $25 billion worth, but only managed to push the dollar up to 85.77 yen from 82.85 yen.
"It would need to be concerted and aggressive ... and even then I'm skeptical," said Richard Wiltshire, a currency trader at ETX Capital in London.
A New York Federal Reserve spokesman said the U.S. central bank had joined the G7 in intervening to weaken the yen.
Demand for the safety of government debt eased.The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note dipped 5/32, nudging its yield up 0.02 percentage point to 3.28 percent.
Gold rose $15.00 to $1,417.40 an ounce, but was off a record high of around $1,444 reached last week. - Reuters
Trading capped a week of extreme volatility marked by Wall Street's fear gauge, the VIX, breaking through 31 for the first time since July. Stock market volumes surged on down days and fell on up days.
Oil fell from earlier highs after Libya declared a ceasefire in the country to protect civilians and comply with a United Nations resolution passed overnight. It had surged after the U.N. Security Council endorsed a no-fly zone for Libya, and authorized "all necessary measures" to protect civilians against Gaddafi's forces.
"That (Mideast unrest) quieting down and Japan quieting down will lead to buying," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.
Brent crude had jumped above $117 a barrel on worries of escalating unrest in oil-rich countries after the U.N. action to contain Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. Brent for May delivery shed 86 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $114.04 a barrel after the ceasefire. U.S. crude fell 35 cents to settle at $101.07 a barrel.
The dollar climbed 2.6 percent to 80.86 yen, retreating from a session high of around 82 yen, following the G7 announcement to intervene on the currency's sharp rise in recent days.
The show of solidarity by the G7 major developed economies to support Japan through its biggest crisis since World War Two comes a day after the yen soared to a record 76.25 per dollar in chaotic trading. It is the first coordinated currency intervention by the G7 in a decade.
The G7 "is just helping sentiment, and stocks sensitive to risk will push on. But optimism is going to be guarded as there are no firm resolutions surrounding the Japanese nuclear crisis and the Middle East, and anything can happen on the weekend," said Giles Watts, head of equities at City Index in London.
World shares as measured by MSCI advanced 0.6 percent. That gain helped the index erase some of its 5.6 percent drop over the past six trading days and brought the index near even for 2011.
WALL ST UP ON BANKS, NIKKEI'S REBOUND
On Wall Street, stocks held gains but pulled back from session highs due to caution before a long weekend in Japan, where markets will be closed on Monday for a holiday.
Friday also marked the end of the two-day quadruple witching period. Quadruple witching is the expiration and settlement of March stock-index futures, single-stock futuers, equity options and stock-index options.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 85.74 points, or 0.73 percent, to 11,860.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 5.38 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,279.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.57 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,644.62 -- well off its session high of 2,665.56.
Earlier, all three major U.S. stock indexes rose more than 1 percent to touch session highs. The Dow hit an intraday high at 11,927.09, while the S&P rose as high as 1,288.88.
Financial stocks rose after the Federal Reserve notified some of the largest U.S. banks that they passed a second round of stress tests. The central bank said it would let 19 of those banks use some of their massive capital cushions to buy back shares, repay the government and boost dividends.
JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co are among those planning dividend boosts. JPMorgan's stock gained 2.4 percent to $45.64, while Wells Fargo shares added 1.3 percent to $31.76.
Industrial shares also rose on bets they could benefit in Japan's rebuilding effort. General Electric Co rose 0.5 percent to $19.32, while Caterpillar advanced 1.9 percent to $105.07.
Before the U.S. trading open, European equities pared earlier gains after China's central bank raised lenders' required reserve ratios. The FTSEurofirst 300 added 0.2 percent to close at 1,088.82.
Japan's Nikkei share index climbed 2.7 percent, recouping some of the week's losses as Japan reeled from the aftermath of an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant crisis.
YEN AND BONDS SLIP, GOLD GAINS
The euro rose 3.5 percent to 114.56 yen, after climbing to a session high of 115.56 yen earlier. Some traders noted the scale of intervention was so far a tame effort to stem the yen's surge.
The euro rose to a four-month high against the dollar of about $1.4145 after the euro/yen intervention.
Some market observers said even massive official selling might not restrain the yen for long, pointing to Japan's last intervention in September 2010 when it sold a huge 2.1 trillion yen, or around $25 billion worth, but only managed to push the dollar up to 85.77 yen from 82.85 yen.
"It would need to be concerted and aggressive ... and even then I'm skeptical," said Richard Wiltshire, a currency trader at ETX Capital in London.
A New York Federal Reserve spokesman said the U.S. central bank had joined the G7 in intervening to weaken the yen.
Demand for the safety of government debt eased.The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note dipped 5/32, nudging its yield up 0.02 percentage point to 3.28 percent.
Gold rose $15.00 to $1,417.40 an ounce, but was off a record high of around $1,444 reached last week. - Reuters
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