Tuesday 2 June 2009

Wall Street shrugs off GM bankruptcy as world markets rally

Wall Street shrugs off GM bankruptcy as world markets rally

Wall Street shrugged off General Motor's long-expected bankruptcy filing as world share markets started June with a gain, lifted by manufacturing surveys suggesting a more upbeat picture of the global economy.

By Telegraph Staff
Last Updated: 10:19PM BST 01 Jun 2009

The Dow Jones closed up 221 points, or 2.6pc, at 8721 in New York. Other major indexes also advanced with the FTSE 100 closing up 2pc at 4506, Germany's DAX rising 4pc to 5142 and France's CAC gaining 3.1pc to 3379.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average, which has surged 37pc since early March, closed up 155.25 points, or 1.6 pec, at 9,677.75, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shot up 4pc to 18,888.59.

US purchasing managers index — a broad gauge of business activity — from the Institute for Supply Management rose to a better-than-expected 42.8 in May from April's 40.1. It echoed two surveys in China which showed manufacturing expanding in May and one in the UK which indicated that the rate of decline in British economy was slowing.

The Dow Jones said it would drop GM as a component after the automaker filed for bankruptcy, as well as Citigroup, in which the government now owns a significant stake. GM and Citi will be replaced with Travelers and Cisco Systems next week.

Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index in London, said: "One of the main drivers today has been the ongoing increase in commodity prices, helping to register some impressive gains for mining stocks."

Xstrata and Vedanta were both up more than 9pc in London.

Mr Hughes said the action in commodity markets continues to suggest that the end is in sight for the global slowdown, with gold at its highest for more than three months and oil back to where it was in early November.

"Stock investors seem happy to keep pushing the price of the mining shares higher – this is a sector that has outperformed the wider market for much of this year and at the moment it seems to have plenty of positive momentum behind it."

Investors have been worried of late that the rally in world markets since early March had run out of steam.

Brent crude settled at nearly $68 a barrel and the pound rose more than 3 cents against the dollar to a seven-month high of $1.6428.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/5423078/Wall-Street-shrugs-off-GM-bankruptcy-as-world-markets-rally.html

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