Updated on
Summary
Both world stocks and oil prices witnessed a surge as China interest rates remain unchanged. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 81.94 points, or 0.8 percent, to 10,293.89 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.5 percent to 1,996.59. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.7 percent to 23,317.61 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 inched 0.2 percent higher to 4,757.10. Stocks in Taiwan, India and Thailand also rose. In New York on Friday, an encouraging trade report and signs that a tax cut package would pass the Senate sent U.S. stocks to their highest levels in two years. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 40.26, or 0.4 percent, to 11,410.32.In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3223 from $1.3226 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 84.28 yen from 83.91 yen.Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 61 cents at $88.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 58 cents to settle at $87.79 on Friday.
