Wall St ends at 2009 highs on recovery bets

NEW YORK: US stocks rose on Monday, Dec 28, sending indexes to fresh closing highs for 2009, as optimism about the economic recovery lifted shares of TECHNOLOGY [], energy and industrial companies, offsetting a drop in airline shares amid security worries, according to Reuters.

Investors were also optimistic that the year-end holiday shopping season could prove stronger than initially expected.

Trading was choppy, with most market participants away on vacation. Indexes see-sawed for most the day, but then mounted a late advance to end in positive territory.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 26.98 points, or 0.26%, to end unofficially at 10,547.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 1.30 points, or 0.12%, to 1,127.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 5.39 points, or 0.24%, to close unofficially at 2,291.08.

Both the Dow and the S&P 500 marked their highest closes in 14 months, and the Nasdaq notched its highest close in 15 months.

Meanwhile, gold prices rose slightly on Monday, but trade was quiet as many investors stayed on the
sidelines with European and other major metals markets closed since late last week for Christmas.

A slightly weaker U.S. dollar prompted some bargain hunting in bullion, which had fallen to a seven-week low of US$1,074.10 last week due to a sharp rise of the dollar against the euro.

"It's the end of the year, and the gold market is expected to be quiet," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Illinois-based Prospector Asset Management.

However, Kaplan said he expected lower gold prices in early 2010 because of a resurgent dollar.

Spot gold was at US$1,105.65 an ounce as of 3:14 pm EST (2014 GMT), compared with US$1,103.80, the last quote in New York late on Thursday. It has risen more than 25 percent this year.

US gold futures for February delivery settled up US$3.10 at $1,107.90 an ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. - Reuters