May 25, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

NEW YORK, May 24: US shares tumbled on Friday as a new rise in crude oil futures dampened sentiment and investors refrained from taking new positions ahead of a three-day holiday weekend.

Data showing a further decline in US home sales and a rising glut of unsold properties also kept traders cautious.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 145.99 points (1.16 per cent) to close at 12,479.63 and the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite dropped 19.91 points (0.81 per cent) to 2,444.67.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid 19.91 points (1.32 per cent) to 1,375.93, capping a week of heavy losses for Wall Street.

With traders looking ahead to the three-day Memorial Day weekend, sentiment took a hit from a fresh jump in crude futures, up 1.38 dollars to close at $132.19 a barrel in New York.

Rising energy costs and inflation worries weighed on enthusiasm ahead of the long holiday weekend, said Al Goldman, market strategist at Wachovia Securities.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales in April slowed one percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units from an upwardly revised pace of 4.94 million in March.

The pace was slightly stronger than expected. But the median sales price plunged eight percent from a year ago and inventories of homes for sale rose 10.5 per cent to 4.55m units, an 11.2-month supply at the current sales pace.

While (the sales report) implies some stability in demand, the headwinds of tighter lending standards, falling employment and falling net worth suggest that a recovery in home sales in 2008 remains remote, said Gary Bigg, economist at Bank of America.

Among stocks in focus, General Motors slumped 4.61 percent to $17.58 as the carmaker said the strike that was settled late Thursday at its key supplier American Axle would cost GM some $1.8 billion.

Halliburton fell 1.06 per cent to $47.77 as the oil services group launched a bid for British rival Expro International Group Plc.

Bonds climbed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond eased to 3.831 per cent from 3.921 per cent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond dipped to 4.557 per cent against 4.629 per cent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.—AFP