NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Global equity markets rose and the dollar traded mixed on Friday as investors warmed to recent data that has underpinned hopes for sustained US economic strengthening even as new data showed home resales fell to an 18 month-low last month.
Cold weather and a lack of housing stock sidelined potential home buyers in January, the National Association of Realtors said on Friday, in the latest report indicating that severe winter weather has dragged on economic growth.
Home sales dropped 5.1 per cent to an annual rate of 4.62 million units, the lowest level since July 2012, the trade group said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to fall to a 4.68 million pace last month.
Major equity indexes in Europe and across the Americas rose, with a measure of global equity activity, MSCI's all-country world index, rising 0.51 per cent.
"Markets have come to accept that the U.S. economy is growing moderately and that inflation should remain tame. This is a good combo for stocks and other risk assets," said Steven Einhorn, vice chairman of hedge fund Omega Advisors Inc in New York.
Corporate results also helped lift equity markets.
Priceline.com Inc jumped 3.4 per cent to US$1,327.14, and was one of the S&P 500's biggest gainers. The online travel booking company reported results that beat expectations after Wednesday's market close.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 40.78 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 16,174.01. The S&P 500 gained 5.19 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,844.97 and the Nasdaq Composite added 14.715 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 4,282.26.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares was up 0.36 per cent at 1,343.65 points, led by a 0.6 per cent rise in France's CAC 40 index to a 5-1/2-year high.
A recent trend of companies in France delivering decent profits and better outlooks, in contrast to last year when a weak economy hit earnings and caused the CAC to underperform, has lifted the French benchmark.
French-listed oil services group Technip and construction firm Saint-Gobain rose 2.71 per cent and 3.86 per cent, respectively, as banks lifted their target prices for the stocks after they reported results earlier in the week.
"Many are calling the French economy the sick man of Europe, but people are buying the future. France has so much potential to improve," Markus Huber, senior sales trader at Peregrine & Black, said.
The dollar rose against a basket of currencies, on track for its first weekly gain in three weeks. The dollar index rose 0.09 per cent to 80.360. Against the yen, the dollar edged up 0.49 per cent to 102.76 yen.
The euro rose 0.04 per cent to $1.3724.
Brent crude oil slipped below $110 a barrel but remained on course for its highest weekly close this year, as supply disruptions in Africa tightened the market.
Domestic conflicts in Libya and south Sudan, as well as escalating protests in Venezuela, have helped support spot oil prices at a time when winter heating demand in the northern hemisphere is close to its peak.
Brent crude futures for April were down 51 cents at $109.79 a barrel. U.S. crude futures for April delivery dropped 54 cents to $102.21.
US government bond prices were mixed, with the 10-year note trading near break-even to yield 2.7535 per cent. The price of the 30-year long bond rose 6/32 to yield 3.7153 per cent.
