* Wall Street gains as Fed chairman withstands grilling
* Dollar up as risk appetite fades, Swiss franc steady
* Oil rises towards $70 a barrel on Nigeria attack
* Bond prices rise as U.S. jobless date data disappoints
(Updates with U.S. markets; changes byline, dateline, previous
LONDON)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday
after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke withstood a
grilling in Congress, while the U.S. dollar rose after
unexpectedly bad jobless claims data dampened risk appetite.
Euro zone government bond prices rose after data showed
industrial orders in Europe plunged in April as the surprise
jump in American workers filing new claims for unemployment
benefits lifted short-dated U.S. government debt prices.
Oil rose above $70 a barrel after Nigeria's main militant
group attacked a Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> pipeline,
heightening concern about supplies from the region.
Hopes for recovery from global recession could be seen in a
rise in the price of copper, a widely used industrial metal,
even though the poor U.S. jobs data reminded investors that
economic weakness would hamper demand.
European shares closed lower, led by drugmakers and banks,
after Asia-focused Standard Chartered <STAN.L> said it remained
cautious on the economic outlook despite record levels of
income and profit in the first five months of the year.
U.S. stocks rose sharply after committee members questioned
Bernanke on the Fed's role in Bank of America's <BAC.N>
takeover of Merrill Lynch, and whether he pressured Chief
Executive Ken Lewis to conclude the deal after Lewis raised
objections. For details see [].
As the testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives
Oversight and Government Reform Committee wore on, however,
analysts' concerns receded and stocks added to gains.
"There has been nothing in his testimony that has confirmed
conspiratory theorists that he overstepped his authority," said
Peter Kenny, a managing director at Knight Equity Markets in
Jersey City, New Jersey.
Consumer discretionary shares led stocks higher early in
the session on positive news from the retail and home-building
sectors, leading shares of home builder Lennar Corp <LEN.N> and
retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond <BBBY.O> to rally.
Lennar shares shot up 15.7 percent after it posted a wider
quarterly loss, but also reported an increase in new home sales
and orders. []
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc <BBBY.O> reported a surprising
increase in quarterly profit as it cut costs to offset slumping
demand, and its stock soared 10 percent.
After 1 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average <> was
up 141.70 points, or 1.71 percent, at 8,441.56. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 15.66 points, or 1.74 percent,
at 916.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 28.55
points, or 1.59 percent, at 1,820.89.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares ended 0.9 percent lower at 845.71.
The European Central Bank moved to lend banks 442.24
billion euros, its latest effort to boost liquidity, which led
the bank-to-bank cost of borrowing euros to fall by the most in
six months. Overnight euro Libor rates slumped by almost a
percentage point to a record low.
The Swiss franc fell against both the euro <EURCHF=> and
dollar <CHF=> as traders cited talk of the Swiss National Bank
selling francs for euros and dollars, possibly via the Bank for
International Settlements. Both the SNB and BIS declined to
comment. See [].
The dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies,
with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> off 0.27 percent at 80.34.
The euro <EUR=> was up 0.14 percent at $1.3944, and against
the yen, the dollar <JPY=> was up 0.31 percent at 96.02.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was up
28/32 in price to yield 3.58 percent. The 2-year U.S. Treasury
note <US2YT=RR> rose 6/32 in price to yield 1.12 percent.
U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> rose 2.77 percent to
$70.57 a barrel.
Spot gold prices <XAU=> rose $5.55 to $936.65 an ounce.
Asian stocks rallied for a second day after the Fed
repeated that interest rates will be kept at a record low for a
while.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 1.1 percent, while the Nikkei average
<> climbed 2.2 percent.
(Reporting by Wanfeng Zhou and Richard Leong in New York and
Dominic Lau, George Matlock, Joanne Frearson, Emelia
Sithole-Matarise, David Sheppard and Nick Vinocur in London;
Writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by James Dalgleish)
