Wall Street boosted by financial, tech stocks

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - US stocks rose on Friday, the last day of the third quarter, helped by gains in financials and technology stocks.

The S&P 500 financial index rose 0.92 per cent, outpacing the other major sectors of the benchmark index. The sector had lost nearly 1.5 per cent on Thursday, sparked by declines in Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo.

Shares of JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup rose between 0.6 per cent and 1.1 per cent on Friday.

Deutsche Bank's US-listed stock rose 6.8 per cent. The stock was hammered on Thursday on news that a number of hedge funds had pulled out collateral as the bank faces a $14 billion demand from U.S. authorities for misselling mortgage-backed securities.

The technology index was up 0.43 percent, helped by Apple's 0.7 percent rise. The stock also bolstered the S&P and the Nasdaq. "Wall Street was right to worry about Deutsche Bank, but yesterday was a bit of an over reaction, and we're walking back a little bit today," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. "The spotlight is likely to still be on financials."

At 9:43 a.m. ET (9:43 .m Singapore time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 109.13 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 18,252.58. The S&P 500 was up 10.41 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 2,161.54. The Nasdaq Composite was up 18.41 points, or 0.35 per cent, at 5,287.56.

The S&P 500 index showed 7 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 23 new highs and 14 new lows.

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