Markets post gains Friday

U.S. stocks posted gains to open November Friday as data indicated new car sales were up and the manufacturing sector grew in October, UPI reported. Autodata said Detroit automakers notched double-digit increases in October compared to the same month of 2012, and the Institute of Supply Management said the manufacturing sector posted gains in October, although a matching index published by Markit Economics said manufacturing growth had slowed. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average added 69.80 points or 0.45 percent to 15,615.55, having begun the week at 15,570.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, which began the week at 1,759.77, closed Friday at 1,761.64, adding 5.10 points or 0.29 percent on the day. The Nasdaq started at 3,943.36 points Monday. On Friday, the index added 2.34 points, 0.06 percent, to reach 3,922.04, posting a loss on the week. On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,400 stocks advanced while 1,683 declined on volume of 3.6 billion shares traded. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 126.37 points, 0.88 percent, to close at 14,201.57. In London, the FTSE 100 gained 3.31 points, or 0.05 percent, to finish the week at 6,734.74. On currency markets, the euro traded at $1.349 and the dollar rose to 98.75 yen. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold lost $9 or 0.68 percent, to $1,314.70 per troy ounce. Silver gave up 2.2 cents to $21.855 per ounce. In late trading, West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped $1..74, falling to $94.64 per barrel, the first close under $95 since July. Ten-year benchmark treasuries fell 17/32 to yield 2.623 percent.