Global markets rejoice

New York, Dec. 14: Wall Street rose at the open on Monday on the heels of a global rally as sentiment was boosted by Abu Dhabi’s decision to bail out Dubai and Citigroup’s move to exit a US government bailout.

A big takeover deal in the energy sector in which ExxonMobil agreed to buy XTO also helped keep the mood positive in New York.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.24 points (0.24 per cent) to 10,496.74 in the first exchanges, building on last week’s gain of 0.8 per cent.

The Nasdaq composite climbed 10.76 points (0.49 per cent) to 2,201.07 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index increased 4.89 points (0.44 per cent) to 1,111.30.

Market action came after Dubai share prices surged by more than 10 per cent boosted by a $10-billion-handout from Abu Dhabi to help deal with debts of its Nakheel property developer and its parent firm Dubai World.

In the US, Citi’s decision to repay $20 billion from the government’s Tro-ubled Asset Relief Progra-mme under a plan to exit a bailout helped sentiment, as did the ExxonMobil deal to buy XTO, one of the bigg-est corporate acquisitions of the year.