International markets roundup

A ROUNDUP of trading on major world markets:

NEW YORK - Wall Street crept higher on Monday, and the Dow Jones industrial average was on track for its seventh straight day of gains.

The Dow was up x points to 14,432 heading into the close, an increase of 0.2 per cent. The blue-chip index blew past its all-time high last Tuesday, then kept climbing to end the week up two per cent.

Boeing was the Dow's top stock on Monday, rising nearly two per cent. A Boeing executive reportedly said he's confident the aircraft maker has figured out a fix for the battery problems that have grounded the 787 Dreamliner.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up four points, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,555.

(The S&P 500 index all-time closing high of 1,565 from October 2007.)

There were no major economic reports to drive trading on Monday. Later in the week, the government will release figures for the federal budget in February, as well as reports on consumer prices and industrial production.

LONDON - European stock markets closed with mixed but mainly weaker results as disappointing Chinese economic data offset positive job numbers out of the United States.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading companies gained 0.31 per cent to 6,503.63 on Monday, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell by a slight 0.03 per cent to 7,984.29 and the CAC 40 edged down by 0.10 per cent to 3,836.27 in Paris.

In Madrid the Ibex 35 was off by 0.85 per cent and Milan's FTSE Mib gave up 0.69 per cent.

HONG KONG - Asian markets were mixed after another record-breaking performance on Wall Street on Friday, while Shanghai dipped as disappointing economic data fuelled concerns about China's economy.

The US dollar got a boost from better-than-forecast US jobs figures, hitting multi-year highs against the yen.

Tokyo rose 0.53 per cent, or 65.43 points, to 12,349.05.

Seoul eased 0.13 per cent, losing 2.66 points to close at 2,003.35, while Shanghai lost 0.35 per cent, or 8.02 points, to end at 2,310.59 and Hong Kong was flat, dipping 1.13 points to 23,090.82.

WELLINGTON - New Zealand shares have risen, pushing the NZX 50 Index to a new record, as investors were attracted by the prospect of continued earnings and dividend growth.

The NZX 50 rose 12.548 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4,366.575.

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