World Market Overview

U.S. stocks extended their December run Wednesday, helped by energy stocks and a flagging dollar.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46 points, or 0.4%, to 11622, adding to a gain of more than 5% this month.

McDonald's, Walt Disney, International Business Machines and Chevron all gained 1% or more, helping buoy the blue chip index.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% to 2671.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 0.3% to 1262.

Market moves are expected to be muted for the rest of the week as investors anxious to lock in the year's gains are expected to trade cautiously.

With only three trading days left in the year, the Dow is up 11%, while the S&P 500 is up nearly 13% and the Nasdaq is up more than 17%.

Almost all those gains have come in the second half of the year, with the Dow up 7.5% in the fourth quarter alone.

Small-cap stocks have surged even more this year, with the Russell 2000 up more than 26%.

Traders said after the volatility of this spring, the market's year end returns were surprisingly good.

Energy and materials stocks were among the best performers of the day.

Halliburton rose 2%, Schlumberger gained 2% and Occidental advanced 1.6%.

Monsanto also gained 2.7%.

European Markets

European stocks mainly rose on Wednesday and the euro climbed slightly against the dollar in thin trade following gains across many Asian equity markets.

In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.83 percent to end the day at 3,890.65 points, while in Frankfurt the DAX gained 0.34 percent to finish at 6,995.47 points.

But in London FTSE 100 index dipped 0.21 percent in its first post holiday trading session, dropping back below the 6,000 barrier to finish at 5,996.96 points.

The FTSE on Friday closed above the psychological 6,000 point level for the first time in 30 months thanks to a Christmas Eve rally.

Elsewhere in Europe, Swiss stocks were stable, Milan picked up 0.11, Lisbon rose 0.18 percent, Brussels gained 0.74 percent and Madrid climbed 0.79 percent.

In Amsterdam the AEX index rose 0.46 percent to hit a new high this year of 358.32 points.

The broader S&P 500 index gained 0.24 percent to 1,261.51, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ rose 0.21 percent to 2,668.57.

The European Central Bank said bank loans to the euro zone private sector increased further in November, a sign that the financial sector is slowly returning to normal despite the debt crisis.

Portugal, which said Wednesday it plans to raise EUR6 billion from the bond market in the first quarter of 2011, saw yields on its 10-year bonds rise to 6.664 percent from 6.59 percent.

Asian Markets

Asian stocks ended mostly higher Wednesday, with Tower Australia powering higher on a takeover bid from Dai-ichi Life, while Hong Kong and China markets rebounded from recent declines spurred by China's interest rate hike.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended a three trading-day losing streak by bouncing 1.5%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index, which declined in nine of the previous 10 sessions, advanced 0.7%.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 0.5%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended little changed and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.5%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 14 points in screen trade.

Property developers led gains in China on bargain hunting, with some Hong Kong-listed mainland property plays also posting gains.

On the mainland, Gemdale rose 3.9% after a 6.5% fall over the past two sessions, and RiseSun Real Estate Development was up 4.3% after dropping 12.2% over the same period.

In Hong Kong, China Resources Land added 1.2% and Greentown rose 1.2%.

China's central bank Saturday raised interest rates, underscoring Beijing's continued attempts to combat rising inflation.

Base Metals

Base metals closed mostly higher on the London Metal Exchange Wednesday as the markets, which had been shut since Christmas Eve, played catch up with their U.S. and Chinese counterparts.

The exchange's three month copper contract ended the day at $9,400 a metric ton, up 0.6% on Friday's kerb close, after hitting a fresh record high of $9,447/ton in early European trade.

LME lead and zinc performed particularly well, with the latter gaining significantly from positioning ahead of the annual reweightings of the commodity indexes.

The Standard & Poors Goldman Sachs Commodity Index and the Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index both rebalance in January each year, leading to volatility within the markets as buying and selling to re-weight the indices takes place.

Oil futures gave back ground on Wednesday, maintaining a tight range in thin trading ahead of data on U.S. crude stocks.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 38 cents, or 0.4%, at $91.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange slipped 43 cents, or 0.5%, at $93.95 a barrel.

Thin trading between the Christmas and New Year's holidays has kept crude prices within a tight range between $90 and $92 a barrel all week.

Many analysts expect crude to march higher in 2011, but traders remain hesitant to place large bets ahead of the end of the year.

Fresh investor appetite for gold helped keep the precious metal's price above the $1,400 mark for a second day.

The most actively traded contract, for February delivery, was recently up 0.1%, or $2, at $1,407.60 per troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The thinly traded December delivery contract was up 0.2%, or $2.50, at $1,407.70 per troy ounce.

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