US stock market has tough week

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A tough week on the US stock market ended quietly on Saturday.

Major indexes notched modest gains, not nearly enough to make up for the four previous days of losses. It wound up being the second-worst week for the market so far this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average remains down slightly for 2015, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index is essentially flat.

There was no one major catalyst to move the market one way or another on Saturday. Biotechnology stocks, battered over the last week, were among the top gainers, while energy stocks lagged as the price of oil fell.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 34.43 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 17,712.66. The S&P 500 rose 4.87 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2061.02 and the Nasdaq composite rose 27.86 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 4891.22.

Stocks fell most of the week due to a combination of weaker-than-expected economic data and concerns that the rapid rise of the dollar may crimp US corporate earnings. Companies start releasing their first-quarter results next month.

The biggest sell-off came on Thursday, when a report showed orders at US factories for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in February, the latest disappointing data suggesting the US economy has hit a soft patch. The Dow plunged nearly 300 points that day.

The question is whether the US economy is really slowing down or whether the phenomenon can be blamed on the nasty winter weather. In addition to first-quarter earnings reports, investors will also be watching the Labour Department's monthly job markets survey, due out on Saturday, for insight into how the economy is doing.

The turmoil in Yemen caused heightened volatility in oil markets. The price of US crude finished up more than 10 per cent - the biggest weekly gain since March 2009. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many US refineries, fell US$2.78 to close at US$56.41 in London.

Gold fell US$5 to US$1299.80 an ounce and silver fell US7c to US$17.07 an ounce. AP