Wall Street rises on upbeat jobless data, stress test results

NEW YORK, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street settled sharply higher on Friday, after the U.S. government reported fewer job losses in April than market forecast and bank shares were boosted by stress test results.

The U.S. Labor Department posted on Friday that employers cut 539,000 jobs last month, the fewest in six months. It is a big improvement from a revised 699,000 job losses in March and less than the loss of 610,000 jobs analysts had expected. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent, the highest since late 1983.

Bank shares led the market higher, as investors were relieved after the U.S. government released the results of the government's stress tests of major banks. The government says 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks must raise about 74.6 billion U.S. dollars in new capital, less than some had feared.

Moreover, Chevron and Exxon Mobil led an advance in energy companies as the crude climbed above 58 dollars a barrel.

The Dow Jones rose 164.80, or 1.96 percent, to 8,574.65. Broader indexes also traded higher. The Standard Poor's 500 index climbed 21.84, or 2.41 percent, to 929.23, and the Nasdaq added 22.76, or 1.33 percent, to 1,739.00.

Chinese shares open slightly higher

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Report: Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares opened slightly higher on Monday
with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index opened up 0.37 percent to 2,486.68.

The Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.69 percent to 9,567.63 at the opening.

HK stocks close higher on China rebound hopes

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HONG KONG, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Hopes of an economic rebound in China drove Hong Kong stocks slightly higher for the third straight session Wednesday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 89.46 points, or 0.57 pct at 15,669.62 after trading between 15,213.39 and 15,669.85 during the session and spending most of the day in negative territory.

Turnover fell to 66.26 billion HK dollars (about 8.56 billion U. S. dollars) from Tuesday's 75.42 billion HK dollars (about 9.74billion U.S. dollars).

Wall Street shifted into reverse overnight after the U.S. government reported a 1.1 slump in retail sales in March, an unexpectedly poor result that rattled hopes that the worst of the recession had passed.

But signs of recovery in China's economy drove Hong Kong stocks a positive session as China's Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said Wednesday that actual foreign direct investment in China came to 8.4 billion U.S. dollars in March.

Though the figure was down 9.5 pct from a year earlier, it was the highest monthly level since June last year.

China Mobile jumped 4.8 pct to 73.15 HK dollars, contributing 74.58 points of the HSI's rise.

Citic Pacific rose 3.2 pct to 12.78 HK dollars, extending its 28.7 pct gain over the last two sessions.

Sinopec rose 2.74 pct, or 0.16 pct to 5.99 HK dollars and China Mining moved up 2.74 pct, or 0.16 HK dollars, to 5.99.

Bank of China dropped 1.02 pct, or 0.03 to 2.92 HK dollars and ICBC lowered 0.89 pct, or 0.04, to 4.45 HK dollars.

Banking, mining shares push London market to higher close

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LONDON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The London Stock Market closed higher on Thursday boosted by banking and mining shares.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was 58.19 points, or 1.48 percent, higher at 3,983.71 at the close, led by higher metal prices and better performance from the banking shares.

Vedanta Resources led the gainers by adding 13 percent, while Eurasian Natural Resources was up 10.72 percent.

Barclays share rose 12.48 percent, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland, which was up 11.11 percent. Lloyds Banking Group also added 10.88 percent.

Chinese shares open slightly higher

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares opened slightly higher on Tuesday morning, after the government announced the much-anticipated health-care reform to fix the ailing medical system on Monday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went up 0.10 percent, or 2.32 points, to 2,422.10. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.07 percent, or 6.47 points, to 9,251.13 at the opening.