Dow Jones makes strong headway

US SHARES made their best monthly advance since November yesterday in a seesaw session as a drop in the US dollar offset economic reports that came in mostly weaker than expected.

Buoying stocks was data showing the US economy grew a tad more than initially thought in the fourth quarter. In its second reading, the commerce department said gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 5.9 per cent, up from the 5.7 per cent estimated last month.

But a surprisingly sharp drop in existing home sales in January and weak consumer sentiment in February underscored the uneven nature of the economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.23 points, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 10,325.26 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index added 1.55 points, or 0.14 per cent, to finish unofficially at 1,104.49.

The Nasdaq Composite index gained 4.04 points, or 0.18 per cent, to end the day at 2,238.26.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed up 1.1 per cent at 1,007.51 points.