NEW YORK: US stocks rallied Friday after the G7 major economies acted to curb the yen and Libya announced a cease-fire in a crackdown on insurgents in the face of UN-approved air strikes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index was up 128.35 points (1.09 percent) at 11,902.41 around 1455 GMT, extending Thursday’s gains.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 7.19 points (0.32 percent) to 2,232.43, while the S&P 500-stock index advanced 11.54 points (0.91 percent) to 1,285.26.
Wall Street joined Asian and European market rallies in welcoming the Group of Seven major economies’ pledge to coordinate intervention to stabilize currencies in the wake of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami a week ago and ongoing nuclear crisis. The G7 announcement came late Thursday in the United States.
Market sentiment was lifted "following the announcement from the G7 that it will intervene in the currency markets to try to cool off the recent surge in the Japanese yen in the aftermath of the natural disaster and nuclear meltdown threat in Japan," Charles Schwab analysts said in a client note.
News that Libya announced a cease-fire Friday following the United Nations approval of a no-fly zone over the country also boosted the market, the analysts said.
The UN Security Council passed the resolution late Thursday in a 10-0 vote, with five abstentions. Belgium, Britain, France, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Qatar and the United States said they would help to enforce the no-fly zone.
"Libya’s decision this morning to declare a cease-fire is a positive for global equities," said Frederic Dickson at DA Davidson.
Crude oil prices fell on the cease-fire news. In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May dived $3 a barrel immediately after the announcement, before paring losses.
Wall Street braced for added volatility on quadruple witching day, when contracts for stock index futures and options, stock options and single stock futures expire.
There were no major US economic releases scheduled, leaving investors to focus on company news and overseas developments, Patrick O’Hare at Briefing.com said.
The market "will be dancing with geopolitical developments that for the time being are sounding better than they have in the last week," he said.
Industrials bounced higher, with Caterpillar surging 1.7 percent to $104.89 and General Electric gaining 1.7 percent at $19.55.
Networking giant Cisco climbed 1.8 percent to $17.30 after announcing it would pay its first cash dividend, six cents per share, on April 20.
Sports apparel maker Nike provided a bleak spot amid the rally, falling 0.4 percent to $77.37 after reporting disappointing quarterly earnings.
General Mills rose 1.7 percent to $36.73 after winning control of Yoplait of France, the world’s number-two dairy company.
The rally extended from Thursday, when stocks snapped a three-day losing streak with solid gains as investors digested positive US economic data. The Dow added 1.4 percent.
The bond market slipped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 3.27 percent from 3.25 percent late Thursday, while that on the 30-year bond increased to 4.44 percent from 4.23 percent.
Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
