US stocks rise on upbeat 'Cyber Monday' sales

A Wall Street sign near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building in New York. Wall Street stocks opened higher on Tuesday after stores reported their bigges ever "Cyber Monday" sales. -- PHOTO: AFP.
A Wall Street sign near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building in New York. Wall Street stocks opened higher on Tuesday after stores reported their bigges ever "Cyber Monday" sales. -- PHOTO: AFP.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks gained in opening trade on Tuesday, following upbeat data on "Cyber Monday," seen by many as the yearly highpoint for online shopping.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,816.03, up 39.23 points (0.22 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 3.18 (0.15 per cent) to 2,056.62, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.59 (0.18 per cent) to 4,735.94.

US online sales Monday came in at US$2.65 billion (S$3.46 billion), up 16 per cent from 2013, according to the Adobe 2014 Digital Index. The figures for Monday's big day of online discounts helped offset disappointing data on the "Black Friday" kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

Most international markets rose, with Shanghai soaring 3.1 per cent on speculation China could implement additional stimulus.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.