Tuesday 1 January 2013

Markets end year with solid gains

Bloomberg reports on the markets on the last day of the year:

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped 1.7 percent to 1,426.19 at 4 p.m. in New York for its biggest gain since Nov. 19. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index closed 0.3 percent higher. Ten- year Treasury yields were up six basis points at 1.76 percent, still the lowest-ever year-end close. The Japanese yen weakened, capping the biggest annual drop versus the dollar in seven years. Gold extended a 12th annual gain, the longest streak since at least 1920.

The S&P 500 completed a 13 percent gain for 2012, its best year since 2009... Benchmark indexes climbed to their highs of the session after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said lawmakers reached an agreement on all tax issues and were “very, very close” to a deal to avert the so called fiscal cliff...

Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 capped a 14 percent gain for the year, also the biggest annual rally since 2009...

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.6 percent to a six-month high on Monday. Supporting stocks there was the final reading of HSBC's China manufacturing PMI, which came in at 51.5, better than the 50.9 preliminary reading and the 50.5 reading in November.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.7 percent, bringing its annual advance to 23 percent, the biggest since 2005.

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