US markets closed higher with the S&P 500 touching an 11-month high

The US markets closed higher with the S&P 500 touching an 11-month high. The market was lifted through most of the day by strength in commodities, industrials and technology.

The Dow added 49.88 points, or 0.5%, to 9,547.22. The S&P 500 index rose 7.98 points, or 0.8%, to 1,033.37, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 22.62 points, or 1.1%, to 2,060.39.

But US stocks had faltered for a while during the day on a Federal Reserve report that the economy will remain weak largely due to unemployment.

Major indices regained most of the ground they lost when the Fed’s beige book called its outlook “Cautiously Positive”. The report however, noted a generally pessimistic mood regarding car sales and commercial real estate.

In currencies, dollar fell, touching new lows for 2009 against major currencies as record low borrowing costs encouraged investors to sell the greenback and buy higher- yielding assets. The dollar index dropped for a fourth straight session to around 77. It touched 76.81 earlier; it’s lowest since late September 2008.

In commodities, crude prices are trading above the 71 dollar mark.  The commodity earlier crossed 72 dollar for the first time this month on dollar weakness. OPEC said it will keep oil production quotas unchanged, banking on a recovery in the world economy to maintain prices near 71 dollar.

In precious metals, gold fell below the 1,000 dollar mark after some investors sold the metal after the price climbed to an 18-month high yesterday.

In base metals, copper fell, halting a four-session rally, after inventories rose and a larger-than-estimated plunge in US consumer borrowing cast doubt on the strength of the economic recovery. Among other LME metals, lead fell 2%, Tin fell 1.2%. Aluminum also sank, while nickel and zinc were unchanged.

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