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US sharemarkets bounded back on Tuesday, with all but one Down component ending the day higher as oil prices fell and the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged.
At the end of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average had added 331.62 points, or 2.94 percent, to close at 11,615.77, the blue-chip indicator's fourth-biggest point gain of the year.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 35.87 points, or 2.87 percent, to close at 1,284.88, while the technology-based Nasdaq composite added 64.27 points, or 2.81 percent, to close at 2,349.83.
The gains were lead by financial stocks, with AIG, Bank of America and Citigroup all increasing their share price after the Federal Reserve left its key fed funds steady at two percent.
The only Dow stock to fall was oil company Chevron, whose shares fell as the price of oil dipped US$2.24 on the New York Mercantile Exchange to close at US$119.17, a three-month low.
In currency trading the dollar gained slightly against the euro and slipped against the yen, while the price of gold fell US$21.70 to be worth US$886.20 an ounce on the COMEX index.
(c) NewsRoom 2008
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