A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – A strong start to the US shopping season and fresh proposals for a far-reaching solution to Europe’s debt crisis sent stocks sharply higher on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones industrial average soared by 300 points at one point in afternoon trading, making up more than half of the ground it lost last week.
Initial reports show a record number of shoppers hit the mall or bought gifts online during the Thanksgiving weekend – a make-or-break time for many retailers.
The retail numbers add to a growing set of indicators, including steady drops in the number of applications for unemployment, that suggest the US is far from the second recession economists had begun to fear in August.
Markets in Europe also rose sharply as leaders there discuss new approaches for containing the region’s debt troubles.
Investors are hoping that the recent signs of deterioration in the debt crisis will finally get Europe’s leaders to agree on a package of measures that can ease market concerns over whether the euro currency itself can survive.
Entering the last hour of trade, the Dow was up 292.71 points, or 2.61 per cent, at 11,524.49.
The index plunged 564 points last week on fear that Europe’s debt crisis was spreading to large countries like Spain and even Germany.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 33.51 points, or 2.89 per cent, to 1,192.18 and the Nasdaq composite rose 82.51 points, or 3.38 per cent, to 2,524.02.
Banks had some of the biggest gains as investors became less fearful of an imminent freeze-up in Europe’s financial system, and retailers also rose sharply.
LONDON – European stocks and the euro rebounded sharply after days of sustained heavy losses, with investors snapping up bargains despite a welter of what would normally be bad news.
Dealers said a report that Italy was to get an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, later flatly denied, was taken positively as offering a way out for one of the most heavily indebted eurozone states.
Even with the IMF news lead, Italy still had to pay sharply higher rates to raise fresh funds on Monday, suggesting that investors may have had enough of bonds for the moment.
A warning from the OECD that the eurozone debt crisis could plunge advanced economies into deep recession and even depression, with waves of bankruptcies and wealth destruction in Europe, also seemed to have had little impact.
Last but not least, a Moody’s warning that the debt crisis threatened the debt ratings for all European states, strong or weak, failed to generate much commotion as investors ploughed into now cheap markets.
On the positive side, the markets cheered strong US retail sales after the Thanksgiving holiday.
In London, the FTSE-100 index of top companies rose 2.87 per cent to 5,312.76 points.
In Paris, the CAC-40 soared 5.46 per cent to 3,012.93 points and in Frankfurt the DAX 30 jumped 4.60 per cent to 5,745.33 points.
Milan also gained 4.6 per cent and Madrid advanced 4.59 per cent, while other markets posted similar strong gains.
HONG KONG – Hong Kong shares rose 1.97 per cent on Monday, in line with regional markets, as dealers welcomed a report that the International Monetary Fund was planning to hand Italy an $800 billion bailout.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 348.33 points to close at 18,037.81 on turnover of HK$41.16 billion ($A5.40 billion).
The market was also given a boost by retails sales data from the United States over the post-Thanksgiving weekend showing a record amount of money spent.
Chinese shares closed up 0.12 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, gained 2.81 points to 2,383.03 on turnover of 46.4 billion yuan ($A7.46 billion).
The benchmark index lost 1.50 per cent last week, marking the third straight weekly decline.
Tokyo stocks closed 1.56 per cent higher, also on reports of IMF assistance for Italy.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 127.48 points to 8,287.49.
WELLINGTON – New Zealand shares rose from a three-month low.
The NZX 50 Index rose 6.16 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 3,218.44.
Within the index, 17 stocks rose, 22 fell and 11 were unchanged.
Turnover was about $NZ50 million ($A38.46 million), about half the daily average during October.
